School of Behavioral & Health Sciences, Australian Catholic University, Strathfield, NSW, Australia.
School of Behavioral & Health Sciences, Australian Catholic University, Strathfield, NSW, Australia.
Child Abuse Negl. 2023 Nov;145:106439. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2023.106439. Epub 2023 Sep 7.
The detrimental effects of childhood abuse on long-term outcomes are well-known, however few studies have examined these effects in the context of postpartum psychopathology, maternal self-efficacy, and mother-infant bonding quality.
This study aimed to examine the relationship between a maternal childhood abuse experience (i.e., physical, psychological, and sexual) and mother-infant bonding disturbances, and whether this relationship was mediated by postnatal depression symptomatology and maternal self-efficacy.
A sample of 191 postpartum women (Mage = 32.88, SD = 4.20) recruited online from the general population completed self-report measures of the constructs of interest.
Postnatal depression symptomatology and maternal self-efficacy were found to fully mediate the relationship between psychological child abuse experience and mother-infant bonding disturbances (β = 0.06, SE = 0.03, 95% CI: 0.01, 0.12). Postnatal depression symptomatology (but not maternal self-efficacy) was an independent mediator between psychological child abuse experience and mother-infant bonding (β = 0.07, SE = 0.03, 95 % CI: 0.01, 0.13). After inclusion of other abuse types as covariates in the analyses, the findings for maternal child physical abuse attenuated to non-significance. Child sexual abuse was not associated with the mediating or outcome variables, highlighting the issue of disclosure despite the anonymous online environment.
This study highlights the negative impact of psychological childhood abuse experience on the quality of the mother-infant bond during the postpartum period and potential pathways that underlie this relationship. This study also draws attention to the need to recognize comorbidity of abuse types in research.
儿童期虐待对长期结果的有害影响是众所周知的，然而，很少有研究在产后精神病学、母亲自我效能感和母婴结合质量的背景下研究这些影响。
本研究旨在探讨母亲儿童期虐待经历（即身体、心理和性虐待）与母婴结合障碍的关系，以及这种关系是否通过产后抑郁症状和母亲自我效能感来介导。
从普通人群中招募了 191 名产后妇女（Mage=32.88，SD=4.20），通过在线方式完成了感兴趣的结构的自我报告测量。
产后抑郁症状和母亲自我效能感完全中介了心理儿童虐待经历与母婴结合障碍的关系（β=0.06，SE=0.03，95%置信区间：0.01，0.12）。产后抑郁症状（而不是母亲自我效能感）是心理儿童虐待经历与母婴结合之间的独立中介（β=0.07，SE=0.03，95%置信区间：0.01，0.13）。在分析中纳入其他虐待类型作为协变量后，母亲儿童身体虐待的发现变得不显著。儿童性虐待与中介或结果变量无关，这突出了尽管在匿名在线环境中，仍存在披露问题。
本研究强调了心理儿童虐待经历对产后母婴结合质量的负面影响，以及这种关系的潜在途径。本研究还提请注意在研究中认识到虐待类型的共病的必要性。
