Overwhelmed by Emotion: Pathways from Revictimization to Mothers’ Negative Emotional Responsivity

Abstract

Maternal history of childhood abuse has consistently been linked to increased risk for poor emotional adjustment and parenting as an adult. The aim of this study was to examine a model that may explain the link between maternal history of childhood abuse and mothers' tendencies to respond negatively to their adolescent children's negative emotions. A community sample of 66 mothers with adolescent children participated. Path analysis supported associations between mothers with a history of high betrayal trauma revictimization (i.e., trauma perpetrated by someone close to the mother during childhood and again as a young adult) and increased difficulty regulating their emotions. In turn, mothers who struggled to regulate their own emotions were also more likely to respond negatively to their adolescent's negative emotions. Findings highlight effects of childhood trauma may be particularly problematic for mothers who are revictimized as young adults. These results provide the foundation for future research evaluating clinical interventions targeted at increasing maternal emotion regulation skills.

A Conceptual Model of the Intergenerational Transmission of Emotion Dysregulation in Mothers with a History of Childhood Maltreatment

“…In contrast, Martin and colleagues (2018) found that mothers who experienced high betrayal trauma revictimization (i.e., high betrayal trauma in both childhood and adulthood) were more likely to report distress reactions in response to their adolescents' expressions of negative affect. Additionally, the relationship between mothers' victimization and negative responsivity was mediated by maternal ER difficulties such that mothers who experienced revictimization experienced higher levels of emotion dysregulation, which in turn, was positively associated with their negative responsivity (Martin et al, 2018). These findings coincide with studies that emphasize the detrimental role of child maltreatment and revictimization on parenting (Banyard et al, 2003;Cole et al, 2009;Dubowitz et al, 2001), as well as studies that have established links between revictimization and heightened levels of emotion dysregulation (Walsh et al, 2011), and emotion dysregulation and unsupportive ES (e.g., Buckholdt et al, 2014;Morelen et al, 2016).…”

“…Building upon the literature reviewed, the ensuing section describes a novel conceptual model that elucidates some of the mechanisms involved in the intergenerational transmission of emotion dysregulation. Although the relationships between child maltreatment and adult ER difficulties (e.g., Burns et al, 2010), parental ER and ES (e.g., Morelen et al, 2016), and parental ES and offspring ER (e.g., Shortt et al, 2016), have been supported in studies that examined these constructs separately, it appears that only two studies (Cabecinha-Alati, Langevin et al, 2020;Martin et al, 2018) have tested these relationships simultaneously. Furthermore, there is currently no comprehensive model that accounts for the associations between these constructs.…”

“…Given the association between teenage motherhood, post-partum psychopathology, and parenting stress (Madigan et al, 2014;Spencer et al, 2000), as well as the protracted cognitive development that occurs during adolescence (Casey et al, 2011), teen mothers may experience higher levels of ER difficulties which in turn, negatively impact parenting (McCullough et al, 2015). The experience of additional traumas in adulthood also contributes to parenting problems (Banyard et al, 2003;Cole et al, 2009), likely because experiences of revictimization can exacerbate ER difficulties (Martin et al, 2018;Walsh et al, 2011), which increases the risk of further revictimization (Messman-Moore et al, 2010). Subsequently, ER difficulties interfere with adaptive parenting as evidenced by studies that have documented a relationship between parental emotion dysregulation and unsupportive ES practices (e.g., Briscoe et al, 2019;Morelen et al, 2016).…”

Editorial: The Systemic in Couple and Family Research and Couple and Family Therapy

“…There has emerged endless research in support of how family life affects almost all aspects of individual lives, including health, mental health, and individual functioning (Ganong & Coleman, ; Martin, Kim, & Freyd, ; Walsh, ; Whisman, ). Research on the impact of couple and family therapy also has been substantially positive (Baucom & Crenshaw, ; Henggeler & Schaeffer, ; Liddle, ; Robbins, Alexander, Turner, & Hollimon, ; Wiebe & Johnson, ).…”

Editorial: Focusing on Intergenerational Processes and Problems of Family Life in Family Therapy

“…A multigenerational focus remains a major focal point in a few centers of family therapy training, an aspect of the training of therapists in many methods of practice, and an ingredient in the mix of methods in several integrative therapies (Asen & Fonagy, 2017a, 2017bFiese, Celano, Deater-Deckard, Jouriles, & Whisman, 2019a;Lebow, 2016;Nielsen, 2017;Rober & Rosenblatt, 2017). This thread has also emerged as an important topic in research assessing family process, with a substantial body of work tying some aspect of current family and individual functioning to multigenerational processes (Brown, Kogan, & Kim, 2017;Ganong & Coleman, 2018;Martin, Kim, & Freyd, 2018;Parsons et al, 2018;Skowron & Farrar, 2016;Tissot, Favez, Ghisletta, Frascarolo, & Despland, 2017). Similarly, there has emerged a very thick body of work illuminating our understanding of normal relational family processes and about typical family problems in areas such as parenting, divorce, remarriage, attachment, aging, sibling relationships, acculturation, and innumerable other topics in family life (Demby, Riggs, & Kaminski, 2017;Fiese, Celano, Deater-Deckard, Jouriles, & Whisman, 2019b;Hardy & Fisher, 2018;Jensen, Whiteman, Bernard, & McHale, 2017;Kao & Caldwell, 2017;Rauer, Williams, & Jensen, 2017;Solmeyer & McHale, 2017).…”