Role of Maternal Adverse Childhood Experiences on Infant Neglect: A Multi-Perspective Approach

Abstract

We explored the intergenerational transmission effects of maternal adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and infant neglect from multiple perspectives. The study included a sample of postpartum mothers and infants (N = 550) from the outpatient child health care department of a tertiary hospital in Jinan, Shandong Province, China. Our investigation followed three main lines of inquiry. First, the association of overall maternal ACEs with infant neglect was estimated. Secondly, the cumulative and independent effects of maternal ACEs on infant neglect were explored using the Adverse Childhood Experience Questionnaire-Revised (ACEQ-R) with 14 types of ACEs. Finally, the different patterns of 14 maternal ACEs were identified, and the association between the different patterns and infant neglect was explored. There were three main findings. First, infants born to mothers with ACEs experienced higher levels of neglect compared to those born to mothers without ACEs. Second, infants born to mothers with three or more subtypes of ACEs experienced the greatest levels of neglect, with maternal childhood physical neglect emerging as a particularly influential factor. Third, infants in the “median maternal ACEs” and “high maternal neglect and poor peer relationship” groups experienced more severe neglect than those in the “low maternal ACEs” group. These results suggest that early life experiences substantially shape future parenting behaviors, such as infant neglect.

Keywords

neglect child abuse bullying

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Abe

Sirichokchatchawan

Sangkomkamhang

Satthapisit

Maes

(2022). Adverse childhood experiences combined with emotional and physical abuse by the partner predict antenatal depression. Journal of Affective Disorders, 298(Part A), 194–201. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2021.10.099

Amos

Furber

Segal

(2011). Understanding maltreating mothers: A synthesis of relational trauma, attachment disorganization, structural dissociation of the personality, and experiential avoidance. Journal of Trauma & Dissociation, 12(5), 495–509. https://doi.org/10.1080/15299732.2011.593259

Arimoto

Tadaka

(2021). Developing and validating a new scale to assess signs of neglect of infants and caregivers. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 36(19–20), 8960–8983. https://doi.org/0.1177/0886260519863724

Assink

Spruit

Schuts

Lindauer

van der Put

C. E.

Stams

G. J. M.

(2018). The intergenerational transmission of child maltreatment: A three-level meta-analysis. Child Abuse & Neglect, 84, 131–145. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2018.07.037

Austin

P. C.

(2010). Statistical criteria for selecting the optimal number of untreated subjects matched to each treated subject when using many-to-one matching on the propensity score. American Journal of Epidemiology, 172(9), 1092–1097. https://doi.org/10.1093/aje/kwq224

Benedetto

Head

S. J.

Angelini

G. D.

Blackstone

E. H.

(2018). Statistical primer: Propensity score matching and its alternatives. European Journal of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery, 53(6), 1112–1117. https://doi.org/10.1093/ejcts/ezy167

Berlin

K. S.

Williams

N. A.

Parra

G. R.

(2014). An introduction to latent variable mixture modeling (Part 1): Overview and cross-sectional latent class and latent profile analyses. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 39(2), 174–187. https://doi.org/10.1093/jpepsy/jst084

Burnham

K. P.

Anderson

D. R.

(2004). Multimodel inference: Understanding AIC and BIC in model selection. Sociological Methods & Research, 33(2), 261–304. https://doi.org/10.1177/0049124104268644

Chamberlain

Gee

Harfield

Campbell

Brennan

Clark

Mensah

Arabena

Herrman

Brown

(2019). Parenting after a history of childhood maltreatment: A scoping review and map of evidence in the perinatal period. PLoS One, 14(3), e0213460. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0213460

10.

De Bellis

M. D

. (2005). The psychobiology of neglect. Child Maltreatment, 10(2), 150–172. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077559505275116

11.

De Francesco

Sabin

C. A.

Winston

Rueschman

M. N.

Doyle

N. D.

Anderson

Vera

J. H.

Boffito

Sachikonye

Mallon

P. W. G.

Haddow

Post

F. A.

Redline

Kunisaki

K. M

. (2021). Sleep health and cognitive function among people with and without HIV: The use of different machine learning approaches. Sleep, 44(8), zsab035. https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/zsab035

12.

Dierkhising

C. B.

S. J.

Woods-Jaeger

Briggs

E. C.

Lee

Pynoos

R. S.

(2013). Trauma histories among justice-involved youth: Findings from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 4, 20274. https://doi.org/10.3402/ejpt.v4i0.20274

13.

Drevin

Hallqvist

Sonnander

Rosenblad

Pingel

Bjelland

E. K.

(2020). Childhood abuse and unplanned pregnancies: A cross-sectional study of women in the Norwegian mother and child cohort study. BJOG, 127(4), 438–446. https://doi.org/10.1111/1471-0528.16064

14.

Dube

S. R.

Williamson

D. F.

Thompson

Felitti

V. J.

Anda

R. F.

(2004). Assessing the reliability of retrospective reports of adverse childhood experiences among adult HMO members attending a primary care clinic. Child Abuse & Neglect, 28(7), 729–737. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2003.08.009

15.

Dubowitz

(2007). Understanding and addressing the “neglect of neglect”: Digging into the molehill. Child Abuse & Neglect, 31(6), 603–606. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2007.04.002

16.

Dym Bartlett

Easterbrooks

M. A

. (2015). The moderating effect of relationships on intergenerational risk for infant neglect by young mothers. Child Abuse & Neglect, 45, 21–34. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2015.02.018

17.

Evans

G. W.

Whipple

S. S.

(2013). Cumulative risk and child development. Psychological Bulletin, 139(6), 1342–1396. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0031808

18.

Fang

Fry

D. A.

Finkelhor

Chen

Lannen

Dunne

M. P.

(2015). The burden of child maltreatment in China: A systematic review. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 93(3), 176–185C. https://doi.org/10.2471/BLT.14.140970

19.

Felitti

V. J.

Anda

R. F.

Nordenberg

Williamson

D. F.

Spitz

A. M.

Edwards

Koss

M. P.

Marks

J. S.

(1998). Relationship of childhood abuse and household dysfunction to many of the leading causes of death in adults: The adverse childhood experiences (ACE) study. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 14(4), 245–258. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0749-3797(98)00017-8

20.

Finkelhor

Shattuck

Turner

Hamby

(2015). A revised inventory of adverse childhood experiences. Child Abuse & Neglect, 48, 13–21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2015.07.011

21.

Fluke

J. D.

Shusterman

G. R.

Hollinshead

Yuan

Y.-Y. T.

(2005). Rereporting and recurrence of child maltreatment: Findings from NCANDS. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation.

22.

Gilbert

Lacey

(2021). Intergenerational transmission of child maltreatment. Lancet Public Health, 6(7), e435–e436. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2468-2667(21)00076-1

23.

Gilbert

Widom

C. S.

Browne

Fergusson

Webb

Janson

(2009). Burden and consequences of child maltreatment in high-income countries. Lancet, 373(9657), 68–81. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(08)61706-7

24.

Herrenkohl

R. C.

Herrenkohl

T. I.

(2009). Assessing a child’s experience of multiple maltreatment types: Some unfinished business. Journal of Family Violence, 24(7), 485–496. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-009-9247-2

25.

Hildyard

K. L.

Wolfe

D. A.

(2002). Child neglect: Developmental issues and outcomes. Child Abuse & Neglect, 26(6–7), 679–695. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0145-2134(02)00341-1

26.

Humphreys

K. L.

LeMoult

Wear

J. G.

Piersiak

H. A.

Lee

Gotlib

I. H.

(2020). Child maltreatment and depression: A meta-analysis of studies using the childhood trauma questionnaire. Child Abuse & Neglect, 102, 104361. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2020.104361

27.

Hussey

J. M.

Chang

J. J.

Kotch

J. B.

(2006). Child maltreatment in the United States: Prevalence, risk factors, and adolescent health consequences. Pediatrics, 118(3), 933–942. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2005-2452

28.

Lacey

R. E.

Bartley

Kelly-Irving

Bevilacqua

Iob

Kelly

Howe

L. D.

(2020). Adverse childhood experiences and early life inflammation in the Avon longitudinal study of parents and children. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 122, 104914. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2020.104914

29.

Lacey

R. E.

Minnis

(2020). Practitioner review: Twenty years of research with adverse childhood experience scores—Advantages, disadvantages, and applications to practice. The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 61(2), 116–130. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13135

30.

Lotto

C. R.

Altafim

E. R. P.

Linhares

M. B. M.

(2021). Maternal history of childhood adversities and later negative parenting: A systematic review. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 24(2), 662–683. https://doi.org/10.1177/15248380211036076

31.

Lyons-Ruth

Todd Manly

Von Klitzing

Tamminen

Emde

Fitzgerald

Paul

Keren

Berg

Foley

Watanabe

(2017). The worldwide burden of infant mental and emotional disorder: Report of the task force of the World Association for Infant Mental Health. Infant Mental Health Journal, 38(6), 695–705. https://doi.org/10.1002/imhj.21674

32.

Mao

Huang

Wang

Zhang

Cao

(2023). Maternal impaired cognition and infant neglect: Exploring the independent and combined effects of maternal executive function and reflective function. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 38(13–14), 8316–8331. https://doi.org/10.1177/08862605231154940

33.

Mielke

E. L.

Neukel

Bertsch

Reck

Mohler

Herpertz

S. C.

(2016). Maternal sensitivity and the empathic brain: Influences of early life maltreatment. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 77, 59–66. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2016.02.013

34.

Muthén

L. K.

Muthén

B. O.

(1998–2017). Mplus user’s guide (8th ed.). Muthén & Muthén.

35.

Nylund

K. L.

Asparouhov

Muthén

B. O.

(2007). Deciding on the number of classes in latent class analysis and growth mixture modeling: A Monte Carlo simulation study. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 14(4), 535–569. https://doi.org/10.1080/10705510701575396

36.

Nylund-Gibson

Choi

(2018). Ten frequently asked questions about latent class analysis. Translational Issues in Psychological Science, 4(4), 440–461. https://doi.org/10.1037/tps0000176

37.

R Core Team. (2018). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing. https://www.R-project.org/

38.

Rayce

S. B.

Rasmussen

I. S.

Klest

S. K.

Patras

Pontoppidan

(2017). Effects of parenting interventions for at-risk parents with infants: A systematic review and meta-analyses. BMJ Open, 7(12), e015707. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2016-015707

39.

Renner

L. M.

Schwab-Reese

L. M.

Coppola

E. C.

Boel-Studt

(2020). The contribution of interpersonal violence victimization types to psychological distress among youth. Child Abuse & Neglect, 106, 104493. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2020.104493

40.

Scheuplein

Vermeulen

van Harmelen

A. L.

Alink

(2023). Child maltreatment and victimization. Handbook of Clinical Neurology, 197, 147–160. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-821375-9.00001-3

41.

Stoltenborgh

Bakermans-Kranenburg

M. J.

van Ijzendoorn

M. H.

(2013). The neglect of child neglect: A meta-analytic review of the prevalence of neglect. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 48(3), 345–355. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-012-0549-y

42.

Strathearn

Mamun

A. A.

Najman

J. M.

O’Callaghan

M. J.

(2009). Does breastfeeding protect against substantiated child abuse and neglect? A 15-year cohort study. Pediatrics, 123(2), 483–493. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2007-3546

43.

Tung

Keenan

Stepp

S. D.

Hipwell

A. E.

(2020). The moderating effects of traumatic stress on vulnerability to emotional distress during pregnancy. Developmental Psychopathology, 32(2), 673–686. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579419000531

44.

Wang

Lin

Cao

(2018). Validity and reliability of the Chinese version of the revised adverse childhood experience questionnaire. Chinese Mental Health Journal, 32(9), 760–764.

45.

Wang

Y. R.

Sun

J. W.

Lin

P. Z.

Zhang

H. H.

G. X.

Cao

F. L.

(2019). Suicidality among young adults: Unique and cumulative roles of 14 different adverse childhood experiences. Child Abuse & Neglect, 98, 104183. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2019.104183

Supplementary Material

Please find the following supplemental material available below.

For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.

For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.

0.00 MB

0.04 MB