Christina G. McDonnell

Intergenerational effects of childhood trauma: evaluating pathways among maternal ACEs, perinatal depressive symptoms, and infant outcomes

Maternal adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have been associated with negative physical and mental health outcomes in adulthood. Less is known regarding how maternal ACEs relate to perinatal depressive symptoms or the intergenerational effect of maternal childhood trauma history on birth outcomes and infant functioning. To address this gap, an at-risk sample of 398 pregnant women was recruited from Women, Infants, and Children health clinics. Participants completed a prenatal (M = 4.84 months before due date) and postnatal (M = 6.76 months after birth) assessment and provided birth outcome data. At the prenatal assessment, mothers completed an ACEs measure which assessed experiences of childhood maltreatment and household dysfunction. Self-report measures of maternal depressive symptoms were obtained at both time points. Mothers reported on infant socioemotional functioning at 6 months. Maternal ACEs predicted higher levels of prenatal depressive symptoms. Childhood maltreatment experiences, in particular, predicted higher postnatal depressive symptoms and a smaller reduction in depressive symptoms across the perinatal period. Regarding intergenerational associations, maternal childhood maltreatment directly predicted higher levels of maladaptive infant socioemotional symptoms, whereas maternal household dysfunction indirectly related to infant socioemotional symptoms through maternal age at first pregnancy and infant birth weight. Limitations and future directions are discussed.

Mother-Child Reminiscing and Autobiographical Memory Specificity among Preschool-Age Children.

Overgeneral memory (OGM) refers to difficulty in retrieving specific autobiographical memories. The tendency to be overgeneral in autobiographical memory recall is more commonly observed among individuals with emotional disorders compared with those without. Despite significant advances in theory and identification of mechanisms that underlie the etiology of OGM, there has been little integration between normative research on the development of autobiographical memory and research on OGM. Informed by a developmental psychopathology perspective and drawing on normative developmental research on the social construction of autobiographical memory, the current investigation examined whether the elaborative quantity and elaborative quality of maternal reminiscing are predictive of preschool-age childrens autobiographical memory specificity. Additionally, this investigation tested whether childrens positive self-representations may explain these hypothesized associations. Participants consisted of 95 mother-child dyads. Childrens ages ranged between 3.5 and 6 years, and the sample was predominantly low income and of minority race/ethnicity. Dyads participated in a joint reminiscing task about 4 past events, and children participated in assessments of autobiographical memory specificity and self-representations. Results indicated that the elaborative quality, defined by maternal-sensitive guidance and emotional narrative coherence, but not the elaborative quantity, of maternal reminiscing style was significantly associated with childrens autobiographical memory specificity. Additionally, there was support for an indirect pathway between maternal reminiscing quality and child memory specificity through childrens positive self-representations. Directions for future research are discussed, and potential clinical implications are addressed.

Mother–child reminiscing at risk: Maternal attachment, elaboration, and child autobiographical memory specificity

Mother-child reminiscing, the process by which mothers and their children discuss past events and emotional experiences, has been robustly linked with child outcomes, including autobiographical memory. To advance previous work linking elaborative maternal reminiscing with child autobiographical memory specificity, the ability to generate and retrieve specific memories from ones past, it is essential to make distinctions among aspects of elaboration and to consider how maternal risk factors may influence the reminiscing context. The current study evaluated (a) an interaction between emotional and structural elaboration predicting child autobiographical memory specificity and (b) the potential moderating role of maternal adult attachment. Participants consisted of 95 preschool-aged children and their mothers. The sample was predominantly low income and racially diverse. Dyads completed a reminiscing task that was coded for emotional and structural elaboration. Mothers completed the Experiences in Close Relationships questionnaire (ECR-R) to assess attachment-related avoidance and anxiety, and children completed the Autobiographical Memory Test-Preschool Version (AMT-PV) to assess memory specificity. Results indicated that the association between structural reminiscing and child memory specificity was moderated by emotional elements of reminiscing. At high levels of emotional elaboration, mothers with high levels of structural elaboration had children with more specific memory than mothers with low levels of structural elaboration. Moreover, emotional elaboration (a) predicted less specific child memory without high structural support and (b) negatively predicted child specificity at high levels of maternal attachment avoidance and anxiety, a profile associated with fearful avoidance. Future directions and implications are discussed.

Maternal elaborative reminiscing mediates the effect of child maltreatment on behavioral and physiological functioning

Theoretical and empirical evidence suggest that the way in which parents discuss everyday emotional experiences with their young children (i.e., elaborative reminiscing) has significant implications for child cognitive and socioemotional functioning, and that maltreating parents have a particularly difficult time in engaging in this type of dialogue. This dyadic interactional exchange, therefore, has the potential to be an important process variable linking child maltreatment to developmental outcomes at multiple levels of analysis. The current investigation evaluated the role of maternal elaborative reminiscing in associations between maltreatment and child cognitive, emotional, and physiological functioning. Participants included 43 maltreated and 49 nonmaltreated children (aged 3-6) and their mothers. Dyads participated in a joint reminiscing task about four past emotional events, and children participated in assessments of receptive language and emotion knowledge. Child salivary cortisol was also collected from children three times a day (waking, midday, and bedtime) on 2 consecutive days to assess daily levels and diurnal decline. Results indicated that maltreating mothers engaged in significantly less elaborative reminiscing than did nonmaltreating mothers. Maternal elaborative reminiscing mediated associations between child maltreatment and child receptive language and child emotion knowledge. In addition, there was support for an indirect pathway between child maltreatment and child cortisol diurnal decline through maternal elaborative reminiscing. Directions for future research are discussed, and potential clinical implications are addressed.

Adherence to Diurnal Cortisol Sampling Among Mother–Child Dyads From Maltreating and Nonmaltreating Families

There has been increasing interest in evaluating whether interventions for child maltreatment can improve and/or prevent child physiological dysregulation via measurement of diurnal cortisol. The assessment of diurnal cortisol typically involves the home-based collection of saliva multiple times per day, bringing forth important methodological considerations regarding adherence to collection instructions. To date, there has been no data regarding adherence to home collection of diurnal cortisol among maltreating families. The current study provides data on adherence to in-home sampling of salivary cortisol among 166 maltreating and demographically similar nonmaltreating mother–child dyads using electronic monitoring devices (Medication Event Monitoring System caps). Mothers collected saliva samples on themselves and their children 3 times per day (waking, midday, and evening) for 2 consecutive days. Analyses reveal that although maltreating families were more likely to be nonadherent to the collection protocol on their initial attempt, with additional support and resampling, maltreating and nonmaltreating families were comparable on most measures of adherence. Suggestions for best practices, including the use of electronic monitoring devices, for diurnal cortisol collection with maltreating families are provided.

Maternal attachment is differentially associated with mother–child reminiscing among maltreating and nonmaltreating families

In the current investigation, we examined associations between maternal attachment and the way that mothers and children discuss past emotional experiences (i.e., reminiscing) among 146 maltreating and 73 nonmaltreating mothers and their 3- to 6-year-old children. Recent studies demonstrate that maltreating mothers engage in less elaborative reminiscing compared with nonmaltreating mothers. To further explicate the nature of reminiscing among maltreating families, we examined maternal and child contributions to reminiscing, their interrelations, and associations with maternal attachment among dyads from maltreating and nonmaltreating families. Maternal attachment is theoretically and empirically associated with mother-child reminiscing, and an insecure maternal attachment style was hypothesized to exacerbate poor elaborative reminiscing among maltreating families. Mothers and children reminisced about four emotional experiences. Maternal attachment was measured with the Experience in Close Relationships-Revised questionnaire. Mothers and children from maltreating families engaged in less elaborative and emotion-rich reminiscing compared with nonmaltreating dyads. Maternal attachment anxiety was negatively associated with maternal elaborative reminiscing, but only among nonmaltreating mothers. Mother-child reminiscing among dyads with nonmaltreating and low attachment anxiety mothers was highly collaborative; whereas reminiscing among dyads with maltreating and high attachment anxiety mothers was less reciprocal. Our findings largely support communicative perspectives of attachment theory and also indicate that maternal attachment is differentially associated with mother-child reminiscing among maltreating and nonmaltreating families.

Preschoolers' Autobiographical Memory Specificity Relates to Their Emotional Adjustment.

ABSTRACT Reduced autobiographical memory specificity (AMS) has robust associations with psychopathology. As such, understanding the development of AMS (or its inverse, overgeneral autobiographical memory) and how it may be unique from other aspects of memory performance is important. In particular, it is unclear whether child AMS is distinct from autobiographical memory performance in other contexts, such as during mother–child reminiscing, and whether reduced AMS during early childhood is associated with emotional adjustment as found later in development. In this study, associations between children’s AMS and memory performance during mother–child reminiscing were evaluated. Moreover, the contributions of each type of child memory performance to child internalizing and externalizing symptoms were examined. Participants included 95 mother–child dyads drawn from a diverse, low-income community. Children’s ages ranged from 3.5 years to 6 years. Dyads participated in a joint reminiscing task about 4 past events, children participated in assessments of AMS, and mothers rated children’s emotional adjustment. Path analysis results indicated that children’s AMS was not significantly related to children’s unique memory contributions during reminiscing. Child AMS was negatively associated with emotional symptoms, whereas child memory during reminiscing was not.

Maternal sensitive guidance during reminiscing in the context of child maltreatment: Implications for child self-regulatory processes.

The manner in which mothers engage in emotional discussion, or reminisce, with their young children about past emotional experiences poses important ramifications for child socioemotional and cognitive development. Maltreating mothers may have difficulty engaging in emotionally supportive reminiscing. The current study examined the role of maternal sensitive guidance during reminiscing as a process variable that may explain associations between child maltreatment and 3 child self-regulatory dimensions: lability/negativity, emotion regulation, and inhibitory control. Participants included 111 maltreating and 65 demographically matched, nonmaltreating mothers and their 3- to 6-year-old children (N = 176). The dyads participated in a joint reminiscing task about 4 past emotional shared experiences. Mothers reported on their children’s emotion regulation and lability/negativity while children participated in a behavioral assessment of inhibitory control. Results indicated that maltreating mothers engaged in less sensitive guidance when reminiscing compared with nonmaltreating mothers. In the main analysis, maternal sensitive guidance mediated relations between maltreatment and child emotion regulation and inhibitory control, respectively, but not lability/negativity.