Dissociation Links Maternal History Of Childhood Abuse To Impaired parenting

Maternal History of Adversity and Subsequent Mother–Child Interactions at Early Ages: A Systematic Review

“…Regarding the instruments used for the mother–child interaction assessment, most studies used only one instrument (86%), and only four studies used more than one instrument combined. The majority of articles exclusively used observational procedures to assess mother–child interactions (86%), two studies used self-report measures (Kankaanpää et al, 2020; Lara-Cinisomo et al, 2018), and two studies used both types of measures combined to assess dyadic interactions (Julian et al, 2019; Williams et al, 2021). The 27 studies that used observational procedures assessed mother–child interactions in different contexts: 48% used a free-play situation, 26% applied both free- and structured-play situations, and three studies used only a structured-play situation (Ensink et al, 2017; Julian et al, 2019; Karakaş et al, 2020), two studies used a structured-play situation and observed the mother–child interaction during routine activities at home (Ludmer et al, 2018; Toepfer et al, 2019), one study assessed the mother–child interaction in routine activities in the family’s home (Dayton et al, 2016), and one study did not specify how the observation was conducted (Olsavsky et al, 2021).…”

“…In comparison to the non-maltreated group, mothers with early-life moderate to severe maltreatment and higher dissociative symptoms at five months postpartum presented significantly more self-reported parental bonding impairment and stress, higher physical abuse risk, less observed maternal sensitivity, and a lower emotional availability during mother-child interactions with 12- month-age children. (Williams et al, 2021).…”

“…Additionally, mothers with higher levels of childhood maltreatment had a lower attentional bias toward infant faces, which, in turn, led to lower levels of dyadic reciprocity in mother–child interactions with children younger than 3 years of age (Thompson-Booth et al, 2019). Mothers who experienced early-life maltreatment showed dissociative symptoms, which in turn led to higher bonding impairment in mother–child interactions at 12 months of age (Williams et al, 2021).…”

Emotional Availability: Clinical Populations and Clinical Applications

“…That is, healthy mothers and their infants are able to learn more about each other and become more attuned over the course of the first year of life, whereas those who have a maltreatment history are not able to show this expected rise in EA as they get to better know their child. To better understand the mechanism by which maltreatment history may affect relationship quality, Williams et al (2022) included the study of dissociation, the feeling of being disconnected from one's self and others as well as the world around. What is especially interesting is that dissociation appeared to be a predictor of EA at infant age 12 months, but dissociation did not mediate the relation between early history and observed EA (although it did mediate some aspects of self-reported parenting; Williams et al, 2022).…”

“…To better understand the mechanism by which maltreatment history may affect relationship quality, Williams et al (2022) included the study of dissociation, the feeling of being disconnected from one's self and others as well as the world around. What is especially interesting is that dissociation appeared to be a predictor of EA at infant age 12 months, but dissociation did not mediate the relation between early history and observed EA (although it did mediate some aspects of self-reported parenting; Williams et al, 2022).…”