4 research outputs found
Parentsā experiences of childhood abuse and neglect are differentially associated with behavioral and autonomic responses to their offspring
Although childhood maltreatment has been shown to compromise adaptive parental
behavior, little is known what happens in terms of physiological regulation when parents with a history of childhood maltreatment interact with their offspring. Using a
sample of 229 parents (131 women), the present study examined whether childhood
maltreatment experiences are associated with parentsā behavioral and autonomic responses while resolving conflict with their offspring. Selfāreported experienced child
maltreatment was measured using a questionnaire assessing abuse and neglect.
Parents (Mage = 52.7 years, rangeage = 26.6ā88.4 years) and their offspring (Mage =
24.6 years, rangeage = 7.5ā65.6 years) participated in a videotaped parentāoffspring
conflict interaction task. Parental warmth, negativity, and emotional support were
coded. In addition, their preāejection period and respiratory sinus arrhythmia were
measured as indicators of underlying sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system reactivity, respectively. Findings demonstrated that experiences of abuse and
neglect were associated with behavioral and physiological responses in different
ways. Separating these two types of maltreatment in research and in clinical practice
might be important
Not the Root of the ProblemāHair Cortisol and Cortisone Do Not Mediate the Effect of Child Maltreatment on Body Mass Index
Background: Experiencing maltreatment during childhood exerts substantial stress on the child and increases the risk for overweight and obesity later in life. The current study tests whether hair cortisolāa measure of chronic stressāand its metabolite cortisone mediate the relation between abuse and neglect on the one hand, and body mass index (BMI) on the other. Method: The sample consisted of 249 participants aged 8 to 87 years (M = 36.13, SD = 19.33). We collected data on child abuse and neglect using questionnaires, measured cortisol and cortisone concentrations in hair, and BMI. In a structural model, the effects of abuse and neglect on hair cortisol, hair cortisone, and BMI were tested, as well as the covariance between hair cortisol and BMI, and hair cortisone and BMI. Results: Within the sample, 23% were overweight but not obese and 14% were obese. Higher levels of experienced abuse were related to higher cortisone concentrations in hair (Ī² = 0.24, p <.001) and higher B
Intergenerational transmission of child maltreatment using a multi-informant multi-generation family design
In the current study a three-generational design was used to investigate intergenerational transmission of child maltreatment (ITCM) using multiple sources of information on child maltreatment: mothers, fathers and children. A tota
Estimating the Heritability of Experiencing Child Maltreatment in an Extended Family Design
Child-driven genetic factors can contribute to negative parenting and may increase the risk of being maltreated. Experiencing childhood maltreatment may be partly heritable, but results of twin studies are mixed. In the current study, we used a cross-sectional extended family design to estimate genetic and environmental effects on experiencing child maltreatment. The sample consisted of 395 individuals (225 women; Mage = 38.85 years, rangeage = 7ā88 years) from 63 families with two or three participating generations. Participants were oversampled for experienced maltreatment. Self-reported experienced child maltreatment was measured using a questionnaire assessing physical and emotional abuse, and physical and emotional neglect. All maltreatment phenotypes were partly heritable with percentages for h2 ranging from 30% (SE = 13%) for neglect to 62% (SE = 19%) for severe physical abuse. Common environmental effects (c2) explained a statistically significant proportion of variance for all phenotypes except for the experience of severe physical abuse (c2 = 9%, SE = 13%, p =.26). The genetic correlation between abuse and neglect was Ļg =.73 (p =.02). Common environmental variance increased as socioeconomic status (SES) decreased (p =.05), but additive genetic and unique environmental variances were constant across different levels of SES