Transmission of parental childhood trauma to child behavior problems: Parental Hostile/Helpless state of mind as a moderator

Abstract

Background: Little attention has been given to intergenerational transmission of risk, mainly whether caregivers' history of childhood maltreatment is linked to behavioral symptoms in their children and which protective/risk factors are involved in this transmission process.

Objective: This study examined if parental Hostile/Helpless (H/H) state of mind with respect to attachment moderated the association between parental childhood trauma and behavior problems in maltreated children.

Participants and setting: The sample included 61 parents and their children victims or at very high risk of maltreatment, aged between 1 and 6 years old.

Method: Parents retrospectively reported their childhood trauma and completed a measure of their children's behavior problems. Independent observers assessed H/H attachment representations.

Results: Among parents with H/H states of mind, more severe traumatic childhood experiences were associated with more externalizing and internalizing behavior problems in their children. Among non-H/H parents, associations between parental childhood trauma and child behavior problems were not significant.

Conclusions: In the context of trauma, this study suggests that the absence of a H/H state of mind in parents (i.e., the presence of an organized attachment state of mind) is a protective factor for child adjustment. H/H mental representations of self and attachment experiences as targets of intervention for parents with histories of maltreatment may help reduce the transmission of risk in maltreating families.

Keywords: Behavior problems; Hostile/Helpless attachment states of mind; Maltreatment; Resilience; Transmission of risk; Trauma.