Maternal childhood maltreatment and adolescent internalizing problems: Intergenerational pathways via emotion regulation difficulties and offspring maltreatment.

Background

Research has established the intergenerational transmission of maternal childhood maltreatment to offspring internalizing problems. However, the potential indirect pathways underlying this intergenerational association remain under-explored, particularly regarding how internal regulatory processes and adolescents' own maltreatment experiences operate together within intergenerational risk processes.

Objective

Integrating the theoretical frameworks of the intergenerational transmission of maltreatment and self-regulation, the present study investigated a comprehensive sequential mediation model involving maternal and adolescent emotion regulation difficulties and offspring maltreatment experiences.

Participants

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Setting

A total of 399 Chinese adolescents (54.6% girls; Mage = 12.84 years, SD = 0.75) and their mothers (Mage = 40.41 years, SD = 4.36) participated in this study.

Methods

Mothers reported their childhood maltreatment history and emotion regulation difficulties, while adolescents reported their own childhood maltreatment experiences, emotion regulation difficulties, and internalizing problems (i.e., depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and loneliness).

Results

Results indicated that maternal emotional abuse and physical neglect were indirectly associated with all three types of adolescent internalizing problems via three distinct pathways: (1) a pathway involving maternal emotion regulation difficulties and adolescent emotion regulation difficulties; (2) a pathway involving maternal emotion regulation difficulties and adolescent emotional abuse; and (3) a sequential mediation pathway involving maternal emotion regulation difficulties, adolescent emotional abuse/physical neglect, and adolescent emotion regulation difficulties.

Conclusions

The present study highlights the importance of integrating adolescent maltreatment-exposure and internal regulatory pathways in understanding intergenerational trauma transmission and suggests several potential targets for future longitudinal and intervention research.