Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut.
J Fam Psychol. 2021 Sep;35(6):851-856. doi: 10.1037/fam0000839. Epub 2021 Mar 11.
Adults who experienced childhood maltreatment (CM) are at increased risk for parenting problems. Mentalization capacity may disrupt intergenerational patterns of problematic parenting among mothers with a CM history. In this study, we examine: (a) parents' use of negative emotion socialization practices as one path of intergenerational transmission of risk in mothers with CM and (b) whether mothers' ability to mentalize about the emotion socialization behaviors of attachment figures diminishes intergenerational similarity in negative emotion socialization practices. Mentalization was operationalized as the frequency of cognitive processing words in mothers' narrative responses to questions about how and why attachment figures responded to their negative emotions during childhood. Participants included 154 mothers with and without a self-reported CM history in a case-control design, matched on child age, gender, maternal education, and race/ethnicity. Mothers with CM recollected more unsupportive responses to their negative emotions during childhood, which in turn predicted using more punishing, ignoring, and magnifying responses toward their own child's negative emotions (i.e., a significant indirect effect). However, greater cognitive processing language when describing the emotional climate of childhood diminished this pathway (i.e., a significant moderated effect). Among mothers who recollected unsupportive responses to emotions from their parents, those whose narratives included more cognitive processing words did not act in similar ways toward their own child whereas those who used fewer cognitive processing words did. These preliminary findings support the growing body of research suggesting that the quality of mentalization can be a protective factor among adults who experienced childhood maltreatment. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
经历过儿童期虐待（CM）的成年人更有可能出现育儿问题。心理化能力可能会破坏有 CM 病史的母亲中存在问题的育儿模式的代际传递。在这项研究中，我们研究了：（a）父母使用消极情绪社会化实践作为 CM 母亲中风险代际传递的一种途径；（b）母亲对依恋人物情绪社会化行为进行心理化的能力是否会降低消极情绪社会化实践的代际相似性。心理化是通过母亲对有关依恋人物如何以及为何对其童年时期的消极情绪做出反应的问题的叙述性回答中认知处理词的频率来操作的。研究参与者包括 154 名有和没有自我报告的 CM 病史的母亲，按孩子的年龄、性别、母亲的教育程度和种族/民族进行匹配。有 CM 病史的母亲回忆起在童年时期对自己的消极情绪有更多的不支持性反应，而这反过来又预测了她们对自己孩子的消极情绪会采用更严厉、忽视和放大的反应（即存在显著的间接效应）。然而，在描述童年时期情绪氛围时使用更多认知处理语言会减弱这种途径（即存在显著的调节效应）。在回忆父母对情绪不支持的母亲中，那些叙事中包含更多认知处理词的母亲不会以类似的方式对待自己的孩子，而那些使用较少认知处理词的母亲则会这样做。这些初步发现支持了越来越多的研究，表明心理化的质量可能是经历过儿童期虐待的成年人的一个保护因素。（PsycInfo 数据库记录（c）2021 APA，保留所有权利）。
