The recognition and the initial reaction to children's signals after experiencing maltreatment during childhood

Abstract

Maltreatment during childhood has many long‐lasting effects. Victims often become parents who experience parenting difficulties, therefore contributing to the intergenerational cycle of maltreatment. This paper highlights the consequences of severe trauma during childhood on two processes critical for a sensitive response, namely the recognition of and the initial reaction to emotional signals. We argue that most interventions focus on the observed parental response to children's behaviors or on parental interpretation of children's signals, that is, the attribution of meaning or intent to the signal. Interventions should better integrate research indicating that a history of childhood maltreatment could impair the capacity to correctly identify the emotion and the immediate reaction to these signals. By failing to acknowledge these long‐lasting consequences of childhood maltreatment, scholars and practitioners might never achieve true success in intervening with families in the hope of breaking the intergenerational cycle of maltreatment.