Childhood emotional abuse characteristics moderate associations with adult psychopathology and caregiving |
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| Institution: | 1. California State University, Northridge, United States;2. University of Georgia, United States;3. University of California, Riverside, United States;1. yjackson@ku.edu;2. Joy.l.gabrielli@dartmouth.edu;1. Pädagogische Hochschule Ludwigsburg, Fakultät III für Sonderpädagogik, Germany;2. Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families, London, UK;3. University College London, UK;1. Université du Québec à Montréal, Département de sexologie, 455 René-Levesque Est, Montréal, QC, Canada H2L 4Y2;2. University of Victoria, Department of Psychology, P.O. Box 2050, Victoria, BC, Canada V8W 3P5;1. University of California, Davis, United States;2. Université de Sherbrooke, Canada;1. Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, RI, United States;2. Department of Psychology, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, United States |
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| Abstract: | As the consequences of childhood maltreatment for adult adjustment become increasingly established in the literature, investigations of individual differences in these effects must evolve to examine more nuanced components of the maltreatment experience. This is particularly true for studies of childhood emotional abuse (CEA), which represents an umbrella label for numerous qualitatively different experiences. The present study examined the distinct contributions and potential interactive effects of CEA frequency and intensity on adult psychopathology, caregiving behaviors, and caregivers’ representations of the caregiver-child relationship in a diverse sample of 62 female caregivers of 4-year-old children, all of whom had experienced CEA. Frequency and intensity emerged as orthogonal characteristics of CEA with differential effects on adult adaptation. Higher CEA frequency predicted increased adult psychopathology, whereas higher CEA intensity predicted increased boundary dissolution in caregivers’ representations. Further, an interaction between frequency and intensity predicted negativity in caregivers’ representations, such that higher frequency of high intensity, but not low intensity, CEA predicted decreased negativity. Neither frequency nor intensity of CEA predicted observed caregiving behaviors. These results provide evidence that characteristics of CEA signal important differences in its experience, with differential implications for later adjustment. The specific differences in caregiving representations associated with high vs. low intensity CEA suggest that diverging mechanisms by which these experiences eventuate in adult outcomes should also be investigated. Above all, this study suggests that the measurement of CEA, and childhood maltreatment broadly, will benefit from enhanced attention to specific characteristics of individuals' experiences. |
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| Keywords: | Childhood emotional abuse Maltreatment Frequency Intensity Severity Caregiving |
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