Overwhelmed by Emotion: Pathways from Revictimization to Mothers’ Negative Emotional Responsivity

• Published date: 01 December 2018
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/famp.12339
• Author: Hyoun K. Kim,Christina Gamache Martin,Jennifer J. Freyd
• Date: 01 December 2018

Overwhelmed by Emotion: Pathways from

Revictimization to Mothers’ Negative Emotional

Responsivity

CHRISTINA GAMACHE MARTIN*

,†

HYOUN K. KIM

‡,§

JENNIFER J. FREYD*

Maternal history of childhood abuse has consistently been linked to increased risk for

poor emotional adjustment and parenting as an adult. The aim of this study was to exam-

ine a model that may explain the link between maternal history of childhood abuse and

mothers’ tendencies to respond negatively to their adolescent children’s negative emotions.

A community sample of 66 mothers with adolescent children participated. Path analysis

supported associations between mothers with a history of high betrayal trauma revictim-

ization (i.e., trauma perpetrated by someone close to the mother during childhood and

again as a young adult) and increased difficulty regulating their emotions. In turn, moth-

ers who struggled to regulate their own emotions were also more likely to respond nega-

tively to their adolescent’s negative emotions. Findings highlight effects of childh ood

trauma may be particularly problematic for mothers who are revictimized as young adults.

These results provide the foundation for future research evaluating clinical interventions

targeted at increasing maternal emotion regulation skills.

Keywords: Maternal trauma; Emotional responsivity; Emotion dysregulation; Betrayal

trauma; Revictimization

Fam Proc 57:947–959, 2018

Maternal history of childhood abuse has consistently been linked to increased risk for

poor parenting as an adult. Mothers with a child abuse history report lower levels of

parenting confidence, more parent-related stress, less emotional control during parent–

child interactions, decreased responsivity and empathy, and an increased propensity

toward punitive and authoritarian parenting styles and discipline practices (Banyard,

1997; Bert, Guner, & Lanzi, 2009; Cole, Woolger, Power, & Smith, 1992; Schuetze & Das

Eiden, 2005). Many studies have examined the effects of maternal history of child abuse

on subsequent parenting stress and practices. However, most of these studies have treated

maternal history of childhood abuse singularly without considering within-group differ-

ences, such as relationship to the perpetrator, and have neglected to assess how

*Department of Psychology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR,.

†

National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston,

SC.

‡

Oregon Social Learning Center, Eugene, OR.

§

Department of Child and Family Studies, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Christina Gamache Martin, University of

Oregon, 1227 University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403. E-mail: gamachem@uoregon.edu.

This research was supported by the UO Public Impact Fellowship, awarded to the 1st author from the

University of Oregon. The authors thank the families who participated in the study.

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Family Process, Vol. 57, No. 4, 2018 ©2017 Family Process Institute

doi: 10.1111/famp.12339