Poster #138 - Intergenerational Transmission of Child Maltreatment Using a Multi-Informant Multi-Generation Family Design

• In Event: 1-005 - Poster Session 01
  In Poster Session: PS 01 Section - Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Integrative Statement

Child maltreatment is thought to be transmitted across generations, yet the extent of continuity is unclear, with studies reporting vastly different rates of intergenerational transmission of child maltreatment (ITCM). Disparate findings may be in part due to reliance on a single reporter to estimate ITCM, leading to over- or underestimation. In the current study we used a three-generational design to test ITCM using multiple sources of information on child maltreatment: mothers, fathers and children (see Figure 1).
The sample consisted of 395 participants (225 women; Mage = 38- 85 years, rangeage= 7 to 88 years; 96% Caucasian) from 63 families. The Conflict Tactics Scales (Straus et al., 1998) and the emotional neglect subscale of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (Bernstein et al., 2003) were administered to participants to assess experienced and perpetrated maltreatment. Physical and emotional abuse were distinguished from physical and emotional neglect. We then combined information from the different informants on experienced child abuse and neglect, by including father, mother and child scores in a principal component analysis (PCA; see Sierau et al., 2017, for a similar approach). We used PCA to disaggregate informant ratings into different sources of variability, namely shared (i.e., convergent) reports, and unique (i.e., independent) reports/views of each informant. Next, we tested ITCM with the multi-informant PCA approach (design 3, Figure 2) and with two common approaches: ITCM from the perspective of one reporter (design 1, Figure 2) and ITCM from the perspective of different reporters from each generation (design 2, Figure 2). In all analyses we distinguished between abuse and neglect.
Results of the PCA showed that convergence between mother, father, and child reports explained most of the variance in abuse and neglect compared to components reflecting individual reports. Moreover, the component convergence on experienced abuse predicted perpetrated abuse (p < .001), indicating intergenerational transmission of abuse when multiple perspectives are combined. In addition, a component reflecting father vs. child report on experienced abuse significantly contributed to the prediction of perpetrated abuse (p = .001) over and above convergence, highlighting the importance of including fathers in research on ITCM. Intergenerational transmission of abuse was also found with two common approaches (see Figure 2). In contrast, intergenerational transmission of neglect was only found using the perspective of one single reporter (p < .001).
In sum, we found evidence of intergenerational transmission of abuse across different methods. Intergenerational transmission of neglect was only found using the perspective of one reporter, calling into question whether there is ‘actual’ transmission of neglect. The present results suggest that it is important to take reporter effects into account when investigating ITCM.

Authors

• Renate Buisman, Forensic Family and Youth Care Studies, Leiden University
  Presenting Author

• Katharina Pittner, Forensic Family and Youth Care Studies, Leiden University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Marieke Tollenaar, Clinical Psychology, Leiden University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jolanda Lindenberg, Leyden Academy on Vitality and Ageing
  Non-Presenting Author

• Lisa van den Berg, Clinical Psychology, Leiden University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Laura Compier-de Block, Forensic Family and Youth Care Studies, Leiden University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Joost van Ginkel, Methodology and Statistics, Institute of Psychology, Leiden University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Lenneke Alink, Leiden University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Marian J Bakermans-Kranenburg, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
  Non-Presenting Author

• Bernet Elzinga, Clinical Psychology, Leiden University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Marinus H van IJzendoorn, Erasmus University Rotterdam
  Non-Presenting Author