Mothers' physical abusiveness in a context of violence: Effects on the mother–child relationship

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of mothers' physical abusiveness on the quality of the mother-child relationship, and note how it further varied by their exposure to interparental violence (IPV). The sample consisted of 232 clinic-referred children, aged 2 to 7 years, and their biological mothers. Slightly more than a quarter of the children (N = 63, 27.2%) had been physically abused by their mothers; approximately half of these children also had a history of exposure to IPV (N = 34, 54%). Investigating effects of physical abuse in the context of IPV history on mothers' and children's emotional availability, we found that physically abused children with no IPV exposure appeared less optimally emotionally available than physically abused children with an IPV exposure. However, subsequent analyses showed that although dyads with dual-violence exposure showed emotional availability levels similar those of nonabusive dyads, they were more overresponsive and overinvolving, a kind of caregiving controllingness charasteric of children with disorganized attachment styles. These findings lend some support to the notion that the effects of abuse on the parent-child relationship are influenced by the context of family violence, although the effects appear to be complex.

Children Exposed to Intimate Partner Violence: Association Among Battered Mothers’ Parenting Competences and Children’s Behavior

“…Likewise, there is research which suggests that, in homes affected by IPV, there is a greater propensity for severe disciplinary action and aversive interactions with children [33,35,36]. Mothers often face difficulties in establishing limits for their children, resulting in a situation where children are overprotected or, in contrast, situations of negligence and abandonment [32].…”

Socioeconomic disadvantage, neural responses to infant emotions, and emotional availability among first-time new mothers

“…Among aspects of emotional availability to young children, maternal sensitivity (appropriate emotional expression and response to the child’s expressions) and nonintrusiveness (emotional presence without overriding the child’s needs) are highly relevant to mothers’ appropriate understanding of emotional cues from their infants (Ainsworth, 1979). Difficulties in understanding infant emotions can be associated with low emotional availability behaviors such as intrusive or insensitive parenting, which can lead to negative mother-infant relationships and insecure infant-mother attachment (Belsky, 1993; Cicchetti & Toth, 2005; Killeen & Teti, 2012; Timmer, Thompson, Culver, Urquiza, & Altenhofen, 2012). …”

Patterns of Emotional Availability in Mother-Infant Dyads: Associations With Multiple Levels of Context

“…Bronfenbrenner's () model includes the chronosystem, noting that events and transitions influence the relations between other aspects of the ecology over time. The dyads in the current study look most similar to those in a study of high‐risk (e.g., child maltreatment, IPV, maternal substance use), low‐SES dyads referred for parent–child therapeutic treatment for child disruptive behavior problems (Timmer, Thompson, Culver, Urquiza, & Altenhofen, ). Despite the child age difference in the samples (ages 2–7 years in the Timmer et al study), the EA scores were quite similar, and low.…”

“…When looking at maternal history, it is observed that the practice of these tactics goes beyond the parent–child relationship indicating a possible transgenerational component in this behavior, as 78.4% of the mothers reported at least one experience of physical assault by their parents during their own childhood. Given the early comparison of our sample to a clinical risk sample (Timmer et al., ), we noted a concern that some of these dyads may continue to experience asynchronous mother–child interactions, resulting in problems in children's behavioral regulation.…”