Childhood Emotional Maltreatment and Romantic Relationships: The Role of Compassionate Goals

Abstract

Past research indicates that childhood emotional maltreatment (CEM) undermines the quality of adult romantic relationships by fostering negative characteristics in survivors. Two longitudinal studies investigated the hypothesis that decreased compassionate goals toward partners over time explain the association between CEM and declining relationship quality. In Study 1, CEM predicted decreased compassionate goals over time, which in turn predicted decreased relationship quality in individuals in romantic relationships. Study 2 replicated this effect in romantically involved couples and showed that partners’ high compassionate goals attenuated the decline in compassionate goals associated with reported CEM. These results point to the importance of examining how CEM may affect positive relationship processes and the protective roles of partners’ compassionate goals.

Childhood adversity and adult health: A dyadic analysis of Black American couples.

“…There is a reason to believe that this is plausible, with past research including a recent meta-analysis (Cao et al, 2020) suggesting that a history of childhood disadvantage not only threatens a person’s personal health but also has a corrosive impact on the quality of their romantic relationships. The latter effect is likely a consequence of distrust, low self-esteem, hostility, and depression that often develop in response to difficult childhood experiences (Sun et al, 2021). Importantly, there is an extensive literature showing that the quality of romantic relationships impacts the health of the partners; positive relationships promote health, whereas troubled relationships increase the chances of illness (Song et al, 2021).…”