Poster #99 - The Relationship Between Maternal Reminiscing and Maternal Perpetration of Neglect

• In Event: 3-106 - Poster Session 11
  In Poster Session: PS 11 Section - Family Context & Processes

Integrative Statement

Child maltreatment represents a pathogenic relational experience occurring within the family that is associated with maladaptive developmental outcomes (Cicchetti & Valentino, 2006). Maternal reminiscing (i.e., conversations between mothers and their children about past experiences) is critical for fostering children’s cognitive and social development and has been identified as impaired among maltreating mothers. In particular, maternal elaborations (i.e., questions and statements adding new information) and sensitive guidance (i.e., coherence and emotional support) during reminiscing are lower among maltreating mothers compared with nonmaltreating mothers (Speidel et al., in press; Valentino et al., 2015). However, it is unknown whether maternal reminiscing varies according to the severity of maltreatment subtypes (i.e., abuse, neglect, emotional maltreatment) perpetrated by the mother. Maternal reminiscing is a process that likely reflects broader parenting behaviors. While the volatile, extreme parenting within abusive and emotionally maltreating families creates dysfunctional interactions, the environment of omission and disinterest characterizing neglecting families can be equally detrimental. Given that neglecting parents have been observed to be particularly disengaged in interacting with their children (Wilson et al., 2008), we hypothesized that more severe neglect would be uniquely and negatively associated with maternal elaboration and sensitive guidance when accounting for severity of any instances of abuse and emotional maltreatment.
Participants included 236 children (155 maltreated, 81 nonmaltreated; 3- to 6-year-olds) and their mothers. The Department of Child Service records for each maltreating family were coded using the Maltreatment Classification System to identify the form (i.e., abuse, neglect, emotional maltreatment) and severity of each subtype experienced (MCS; Barnett et al., 1993). Reliability was established (19% double coded, ks > .81). A maximum severity score was calculated for each maltreatment subtype perpetrated by the mother based on a 5-point rating of severity. In the laboratory, mothers and their children reminisced about times the child felt happy, sad, scared, and angry. Maternal elaboration represents the sum of all wh- questions, Y/N questions, elaborations, and confirmations (13% double coded, ICCs > .77). Maternal sensitive guidance represents the average of mother’s focus, acceptance and tolerance, involvement and reciprocity, closure of negative feelings, and structuring, as well as the dyad’s overall adequacy and coherence, which were all rated on 9-point Likert scales (Koren-Karie et al., 2003; 21% double coded, ICCs > .73).
Two regression analyses were conducted—one for maternal elaborations and one for maternal sensitive guidance. The severity of neglect perpetrated by the mother was negatively associated with maternal elaborations, when controlling for severity of maternal abuse and emotional maltreatment. The severity of maternal neglect was also negatively associated with maternal sensitive guidance, when controlling for the other subtype severities. This study identifies maternal neglect as associated with lower maternal reminiscing, both in elaborations and sensitive guidance. These findings are consistent with the study hypotheses and likely reflect the detached disposition of neglecting parents. These results contribute to a more nuanced understanding of how maltreatment subtype severities are associated with maternal reminiscing among at-risk families, with implications for cognitive and social development among children from neglecting families, in particular.

Authors

• Molly Kuehn, University of Notre Dame
  Presenting Author

• Monica Lawson, University of Notre Dame
  Non-Presenting Author

• Ruth Speidel, University of Notre Dame
  Non-Presenting Author

• Kristin Valentino, University of Notre Dame
  Non-Presenting Author