Maternal history of childhood maltreatment and later parenting behavior: A meta-analysis

Exposure to maltreatment during childhood (CM) can have deleterious effects throughout the life span of an individual. A parent's history of child maltreatment can also impact his or her own parenting behavior. Theoretically, parents who experienced maltreatment as children may have fewer resou...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Development and psychopathology 2019-02, Vol.31 (1), p.9-21
Main Authors: Savage, Laura-Émilie, Tarabulsy, George M., Pearson, Jessica, Collin-Vézina, Delphine, Gagné, Lisa-Marie
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Abuse
Adolescent
Adult
Behavior
Behavior problems
Child
Child abuse & neglect
Child Abuse - psychology
Child, Preschool
Childhood
Children
Children & youth
Female
Humans
Hypotheses
Infant
Infant, Newborn
Intergenerational relationships
Life span
Male
Maternal Behavior
Meta-analysis
Mother-Child Relations
Mothers
Mothers - psychology
Object Attachment
Parenting - psychology
Parents & parenting
Researchers
Special Section Articles
Statistical analysis
Systematic review
Theory
Young Adult
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Summary:Exposure to maltreatment during childhood (CM) can have deleterious effects throughout the life span of an individual. A parent's history of child maltreatment can also impact his or her own parenting behavior. Theoretically, parents who experienced maltreatment as children may have fewer resources to cope with the challenges of childrearing and may adopt more problematic parenting behaviors. However, empirical studies examining the association between CM and later parenting behavior have yielded mixed results. The aim of this study is to conduct a meta-analysis of studies that have examined the association between exposure to CM and the subsequent parenting outcomes of mothers of 0- to 6-year-old children. A secondary aim is to examine the potential impact of both conceptual and methodological moderators. A total of 32 studies (27 samples, 41 effect sizes, 17,932 participants) were retained for analysis. Results revealed that there is a small but statistically significant association between maternal exposure to CM and parenting behavior (r = –.13, p < .05). Moderator analyses revealed that effect sizes were larger when parenting measures involved relationship-based or negative, potentially abusive behaviors, when samples had a greater number of boys compared to girls, and when studies were older versus more recent. Results are discussed as they relate to the intergenerational transmission of maltreatment and abuse.
ISSN:0954-5794
1469-2198
DOI:10.1017/S0954579418001542