The past is present: The role of maltreatment history in perceptual, behavioral and autonomic responses to infant emotional signals

Abstract

In the current study associations between parents' experiences of childhood maltreatment and their perceptual, behavioral and autonomic responses to infant emotional signals were examined in a sample of 160 parents. Experienced maltreatment (both physical and emotional abuse and neglect) was reported by the participants and, in approximately half of the cases, also by their parents. During a standardized infant vocalization paradigm, participants were asked to squeeze a handgrip dynamometer at maximal and at half strength while listening to infant crying and laughter sounds and to rate their perception of the sounds. In addition, their heart rate (HR), pre-ejection period (PEP), and vagal tone (RSA) were measured as indicators of underlying sympathetic and parasympathetic reactivity. Results indicated that participants did not differ in their perceptions of the infant vocalizations signals according to their maltreatment experiences. However, maltreatment experiences were associated with the modulation of behavioral responses. Experiences of neglect during childhood were related to more handgrip force during infant crying and to less handgrip force during infant laughter. Moreover, a history of neglect was associated with a higher HR and a shorter PEP during the entire infant vocalization paradigm, which may indicate chronic cardiovascular arousal. The findings imply that a history of childhood neglect negatively influences parents' capacities to regulate their emotions and behavior, which would be problematic when reacting to children's emotional expressions.

Parents’ experiences of childhood abuse and neglect are differentially associated with behavioral and autonomic responses to their offspring

“…Indeed, foster children and adopted postinstitutionalized children, who have typically experienced chronic neglect, were found to exhibit elevated ANS reactivity to stressors (Gunnar, Frenn, Wewerka, & Ryzin, ; Oosterman, Schipper, Fisher, Dozier, & Schuengel, ). Furthermore, in one of our previous studies we found that childhood neglect, but not childhood abuse, was associated with elevated ANS activity of parents in a pseudo parenting context (Buisman et al, ). Results of the present study, however, are inconsistent with one other study in which abuse (physical and sexual) was found to be associated with elevated ANS reactivity (Heim et al, ).…”

“…The current sample was part of a larger sample from the 3G parenting study, a family study on the intergenerational transmission of parenting styles, stress, and emotion regulation (see also Buisman et al, ; Compier‐de Block et al, ). Participants of the 3G parenting study were recruited from three participant pools: (a) The Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety (Penninx et al, ); (b) the Longitudinal Internet Studies for the Social Sciences panel (Scherpenzeel, ); and (c) a study on parenting (Joosen, Mesman, Bakermans‐Kranenburg, & van IJzendoorn, ).…”

“…However, little is known about what happens in terms of physiological responses and regulation when parents with a history of childhood maltreatment interact with their offspring. Although physiological regulation and reactivity have been shown to be affected by childhood maltreatment experiences (e.g., Buisman et al, ; Casanova, Domanic, McCanne, & Milner, ) and are considered to underlie parenting quality (e.g., Bridges, ), empirical research on the link between parents’ childhood maltreatment experiences and their physiological reactivity during real‐time parent–offspring interactions is lacking. Furthermore, it may be important to distinguish between experiences of abuse versus neglect when examining the consequences of child maltreatment.…”

“…Studies that focused on the association between childhood maltreatment and ANS reactivity to psychosocial stressors mainly reveal physiological hyper‐ reactivity in response to stressors (i.e., overarousal) following childhood maltreatment (e.g., Heim et al, ; Dale et al, ), but hypo‐ reactivity (i.e., underarousal) has also been found (e.g., Ginty, Masters, Nelson, Kaye, & Conklin, ). In addition, three studies examined the impact of (stress inducing) infant emotional signals on parental ANS reactivity (Buisman et al, ; Casanova et al, ; Reijman et al, ). Casanova et al () found that mothers with a history of childhood abuse exhibited increases in skin conductance (reflecting increased SNS activity) while viewing a video of a smiling infant, but not while viewing a video of a crying infant.…”

“…The authors suggest that having experienced extensive maltreatment may result in a maladaptive PEP recovery pattern that is similar to that of maltreating mothers. Finally, Buisman et al () found no evidence for altered ANS reactivity to infant emotional signals following childhood neglect, but did find that childhood neglect experiences were associated with a higher heart rate and a shorter PEP during the entire infant vocalization paradigm, which may indicate chronic cardiovascular hyper ‐arousal (Brosschot, Pieper, & Thayer, ). Contrary to ANS reactivity, which may indicate responsivity to distress, sustained (i.e., basal) ANS activation may more generally represent the capacity for emotion regulation (Appelhans & Luecken, ).…”