Intergenerational Maltreatment is Related to Children Emotions Recognition and Moderates its Relation with Sensitivity

• In Event: Developmental Research on Maltreatment and Violence

Abstract

The intergenerational cycle of maltreatment is a well-documented phenomenon. While many studies confirm the phenomenon, an important number of families still escape from that trajectory (Buisman et al., 2020). There is still limited data to understand the mechanisms in play. Recent studies highlighted how a history of maltreatment interacts with the capacities of mothers to recognize children facial emotions (Turgeon et al., 2021). Moreover, mothers history of maltreatment moderates the relationship between her abilities in emotion recognition and her sensitive behaviors toward the child (Bérubé et al., 2021). Mothers abilities in emotion recognition are related to children emotional development (Bedford et al., 2017), whereas sensitivity occurs in the context of a dyadic relationship where each protagonist influences the other. Little is known about the interplay between a parent history of maltreatment, the relation between emotion recognition in mothers and children, and sensitive behaviors.
Objective: The current research examines how maternal history of maltreatment during childhood interacts with both mothers and children emotion recognition of facial expressions to predict maternal sensitive behaviors.
Method: A sample of 35 children from 2 ½ to 5 years old (x = 51,22 months, SD = 9,59) and their mothers met the research team either at the university or in one of the local community organizations supporting families. Both mothers and children completed a computerized task of emotion recognition. Mothers identified the predominant emotions in the faces of children from the Child Affective Facial Expression database. Each picture presented a combination of morphed emotions. Children looked at pictures of women expressing negative emotions morphed with joy. Children had to answer if the woman was happy or unhappy. The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire was used to measure mothers childhood maltreatment experiences. Mother-child interactions were videotaped. Five minutes of free play were coded according to the analysis scheme developed by Moss et al. (1998).
Results: A multiple linear regression indicates that both mothers and children abilities to recognize facial emotion explain a significant proportion of the variance in sensitive behaviors during free play. Moreover, a significant proportion of variance is explained by the interaction between mothers history of maltreatment and emotion recognition of mothers and children. Analysis of slopes reveals that children abilities in emotion recognition is positively related to sensitive behaviors, but only for children of mothers who experienced a history of severe maltreatment during childhood.
Discussion: It is crucial to support children development of emotion recognition, particularly when parents have experienced a history of severe maltreatment. In those families, children abilities in emotion recognition could become a protective factor that decreases the chance of an intergenerational cycle of maltreatment.

Authors

• Annie Bérubé, Université du Québec en Outaouais (UQO)
  Presenting Author

• Noémie Dicaire, Université du Québec en Outaouais

• Émilie St-Pierre, Université du Québec en Outaouais

• Caroline Blais, Université du Québec en Outaouais