Trans-generational transfer of early maladaptive schemas – a preliminary study performed on a non-clinical group

Abstract

backgroundThe maladaptive schemas theory assumes the creation of schemas as a result of relationships with parents during childhood. The aim of the study was to answer questions about the relations between dysfunctional parents' schemas and their parental attitudes and their children's schemas. participants and procedureEighty people participated in the study: 20 full families with grown children: a daughter and a son. The Questionnaire of Retrospective Assessment of Parental Attitudes (KPR-Roc) by Plopa and the Young Schema Questionnaire in its short form (YSQ-S3) were used. resultsThe results indicate that in the case of daughters the relationships between parental attitudes and schemas relate primarily to the perception of the mother's attitudes. The strongest positive relationship between maladaptive daughter's schemas were in relation to an excessively demanding attitude of the mother. There were no relations between the perception of the father's attitudes and schemas of daughters. In the case of boys there were less significant correlations for both the perception of the mother and father. With regard to the relationship between parents' schemas and children's schemas, such mothers' schemas as defectiveness, vulnerability to harm or illness and absolute severity and such fathers' schemas as defectiveness, entanglement and self-sacrifice showed especially strong links with daughters' schemas. The strongest relationships with sons' schemas occurred in relation to the mother's schema connected with pessimism and the father's vulnerability to harm.

Like parent, like child? Exploring the association between early maladaptive schemas of adolescents involved with Child Protective Services and their parents

“…This type of parental behaviour can also lead to the child's belief that the world is a dangerous place and that a catastrophe is “just around the corner,” and the child will be powerless to do anything about it (i.e., Impaired autonomy and performance). These findings seem to support the idea of Shorey et al () that children may in fact develop different EMS in response to their parents' schemas, as was also found by Mącik et al (), schemas that “answer” or respond to parents' schemas rather than just replicate them.…”

“…Our results may therefore not generalize to daughters and/or sons and their fathers, for example. In fact, Mącik et al () reported that for the mother/daughter, mother/son, father/daughter, and father/son dyads ( n = 20 for all four dyads), different sets of EMS are significantly correlated with each other. Finally, as with most self‐report measures, social desirability must be taken into consideration, which was not controlled for in the current study.…”

“…For example, a child may develop the Unrelenting standards EMS due to a (very) demanding, punitive parent. Mącik, Chodkiewicz, and Bielicka (), examining the transgenerational transfer of EMS in a nonclinical group―the exclusion criterion was the existence of any problems in the family connected with the mental health of any member―of 20 two‐parent families with adult children (a daughter and a son), concluded that “it does not seem that it is a relationship which consists of children repeating their parents' schemas. Rather, children's schemas become the answer to parents' schemas” (p. 144).…”

“…Therefore, no specific hypotheses regarding potential similarities and differences between EMS of adolescents involved with CPS and their parents were forwarded. Although there is some knowledge of the associations between schemas of parents and their children (i.e., Mącik et al, ), we chose not to make predictions based on this research because of the marked differences between their sample (i.e., a nonclinical group consisting of adult children and their parents) and our sample. However, given the significant role that aversive childhood experiences and unmet emotional needs can play in the development of EMS, as we described above, we expected that the maltreated children in our study would endorse a variety of EMS, especially of the Disconnection/rejection, Impaired autonomy, and Impaired limits domains.…”

Temperament, parenting styles and the intensity of early maladaptive schemas: assessment of correlations in a non-clinical adult group

“…However, non-violent parental behaviour can also lead to more severe schemas and psychopathology. The study of Mącik and colleagues (Mącik et al, 2016), conducted on healthy families, showed numerous strong positive correlations of daughters' schemas and over-demanding and inconsistent mothers' (but not fathers') behaviour, and strong negative correlationswith mother's and father's accepting attitudes. Parental rejection or excessive control are significant factors in intensifying schemas (Muris, 2006;Khajouei Nia et al, 2014;Dale et al, 2010), as well as motherly (Hoffart Lunding and Hoffart, 2016) and fatherly overprotection (Monirpoor et al, 2012).…”