Department of Humanities, Social Sciences and Cultural Industries, University of Parma, Borgo Carissimi 10, 43121 Parma, Italy.
Department of Humanities, Social Sciences and Cultural Industries, University of Parma, Borgo Carissimi 10, 43121 Parma, Italy.
Child Abuse Negl. 2021 Dec;122:105338. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2021.105338. Epub 2021 Sep 21.
The detrimental role of childhood emotional neglect (CEN) on long-term affective and social development has received increasing attention in the literature. Individuals who were emotionally neglected during their childhood are more prone to feeling isolated and excluded by their parent during adolescence. However, little is known about the mediating processes underlying this association.
This study investigated whether self-other differentiation (SOD) and emotional detachment from parents mediate the link between CEN and parent-related loneliness.
A sample of 535 high school students aged 13-18 years (63.6% female; M = 16.21; SD = 1.40) completed questionnaires regarding demographics, CEN, SOD, emotional detachment, and parent-related loneliness.
After controlling for demographic covariates, structural equation modeling (SEM) showed that (a) CEN was positively associated with parent-related loneliness (β = 0.64, p < .001), (b) SOD did not mediate the relationship between CEN and parent-related loneliness (β = -0.01, p = .142), (c) emotional detachment partially mediated the relationship between CEN and parent-related loneliness (β = 0.16, p < .001), and (d) SOD and emotional detachment partially and sequentially mediated the link between CEN and parent-related loneliness, albeit with a small effect size (β = 0.02, p = .027).
The findings underscore the significance of the link between CEN and parent-related loneliness in adolescence. Moreover, our results suggest that some adolescents with a history of CEN have difficulties in establishing clear boundaries between "self" and "other" and tend to engage in emotionally detached relationships with their parents, which may lead them to feel more parent-related loneliness. Clinical implications and directions for future research are discussed.
儿童期情感忽视（CEN）对长期情感和社会发展的有害影响在文献中受到越来越多的关注。在儿童时期受到情感忽视的个体在青春期更容易感到被父母孤立和排斥。然而，人们对这种关联背后的中介过程知之甚少。
本研究旨在探讨自我-他人区分（SOD）和与父母的情感分离是否在 CEN 与与父母相关的孤独感之间起中介作用。
本研究的参与者为 535 名年龄在 13-18 岁的高中生（63.6%为女性；M=16.21，SD=1.40），他们完成了关于人口统计学、CEN、SOD、情感分离和与父母相关的孤独感的问卷。
在控制了人口统计学协变量后，结构方程模型（SEM）显示：（a）CEN 与与父母相关的孤独感呈正相关（β=0.64，p<.001）；（b）SOD 不能中介 CEN 与与父母相关的孤独感之间的关系（β=-0.01，p=0.142）；（c）情感分离部分中介了 CEN 与与父母相关的孤独感之间的关系（β=0.16，p<.001）；（d）SOD 和情感分离部分且顺序地中介了 CEN 与与父母相关的孤独感之间的关系，尽管效应量较小（β=0.02，p=0.027）。
这些发现强调了青春期 CEN 与与父母相关的孤独感之间联系的重要性。此外，我们的研究结果表明，一些有 CEN 经历的青少年在自我和他人之间建立清晰界限方面存在困难，并且倾向于与父母建立情感分离的关系，这可能导致他们感到更多的与父母相关的孤独感。讨论了临床意义和未来研究的方向。
