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Child abuse potential in mothers with early life maltreatment, borderline personality disorder and depression

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 May 2018

Katja Dittrich*
Affiliation:
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and Berlin Institute of Health, Germany
Katja Boedeker
Affiliation:
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and Berlin Institute of Health, Germany
Dorothea Kluczniok
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and Berlin Institute of Health, Germany
Charlotte Jaite
Affiliation:
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and Berlin Institute of Health, Germany
Catherine Hindi Attar
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and Berlin Institute of Health, Germany
Daniel Fuehrer
Affiliation:
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and Berlin Institute of Health, Germany
Sabine C. Herpertz
Affiliation:
Centre for Psychosocial Medicine, General Psychiatry, University Hospital Heidelberg, Germany
Romuald Brunner
Affiliation:
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Centre for Psychosocial Medicine, University Hospital Heidelberg, Germany
Sibylle Maria Winter
Affiliation:
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and Berlin Institute of Health, Germany
Andreas Heinz
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and Berlin Institute of Health, Germany
Stefan Roepke
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and Berlin Institute of Health, Germany
Christine Heim
Affiliation:
Institute of Medical Psychology, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and Berlin Institute of Health, Germany and Department of Biobehavioral Health, College of Health and Human Development, Pennsylvania State University, Pennsylvania, USA
Felix Bermpohl
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and Berlin Institute of Health, Germany.
*
Correspondence: Katja Dittrich, MSc, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353 Berlin, Germany. Email: katja.dittrich@charite.de
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Abstract

Background

Early life maltreatment (ELM), borderline personality disorder (BPD) and major depressive disorder (MDD) have been shown to increase the potential of abuse. Emotion regulation is an identified mediator for the association of ELM and BPD with abuse potential. Until now, there has been no study to account for the co-occurrence of these risk factors in one analysis, although BPD and MDD are known as common sequelae of ELM. This is paired with a lack of studies investigating the effects of abuse potential on child well-being.

Aims

Our study aims at (a) disentangling the effects of maternal ELM, MDD and BPD on abuse potential; (b) exploring the role of emotion regulation as a mediator; and (c) testing for intergenerational effects of abuse potential on child psychopathology.

Method

The research design included 114 mothers with/without ELM, BPD and MDD in remission and their children, all of which were between 5 and 12 years of age. A path analysis was conducted to investigate the multiple associations between our variables.

Results

ELM, MDD and BPD were all associated with abuse potential, with emotion regulation acting as a mediator for BPD and MDD. Furthermore, an elevated abuse potential was related to higher psychopathology in the child.

Conclusions

History of ELM as well as the common sequelae, BPD and MDD, pose risks for child abuse. Our findings suggest improvement of emotion regulation as a potential target for intervention programs. These programs should also aim at non-substantiated cases because even an elevated abuse potential affected child mental health.

Declaration of interest

None.

Information

Type
Papers
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 2018 
Figure 0

Fig. 1 Path model for direct and indirect associations of maternal early life maltreatment (ELM), major depressive disorder in remission (rMDD) and borderline personality disorder (BPD) with maternal difficulties in emotion regulation, maternal child abuse potential and child psychopathology. Bidirectional arrows indicate covariance between two variables and one-directional arrows indicate a directional relationship. Covariation between ELM, BPD and rMDD was an intended result of our recruitment strategy which aimed at including considerable numbers of mothers with either zero, one, two or three risk factors. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001.

Figure 1

Table 1 Demographic and clinical characteristics

Figure 2

Fig. 2 Standardised path coefficients for tested paths of the final model. Only significant paths are displayed. Controlled for maternal and child age, gender of child, mother's years of education and mother's acute axis I disorders. Bidirectional arrows indicate covariance between two variables and one-directional arrows indicate a directional relationship. Covariation between early life maltreatment (ELM), bipolar disorder (BPD) and major depressive disorder in remission (rMDD) was an intended result of our recruitment strategy which aimed at including considerable numbers of mothers with either zero, one, two or three risk factors. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001.

Figure 3

Table 2 Intercorrelations among key study variables and demographic variables

Supplementary material: File

Dittrich et al. supplementary material

Figure S1 and Table S1

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