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A Multidimensional View of Continuity in Intergenerational Transmission of Child Maltreatment

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Handbook of Child Maltreatment

Part of the book series: Child Maltreatment ((MALT,volume 2))

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Abstract

While the past several decades of research have established a broad frame for understanding the intergenerational transmission of maltreatment (IGTM), published rates and mechanisms of transmission remain variable. In this chapter, we apply key concepts from the integrative paradigm of developmental psychopathology to inform a new approach to IGTM research that will simultaneously facilitate greater sensitivity and specificity in our understanding of patterns of maltreatment continuity and discontinuity across generations. In particular, we discuss the meaning of heterogeneity in patterns of development over time, as well as in the features of maltreatment. We encourage explicit consideration of specific types of maltreatment, and review extant evidence for IGTM with respect to distinct maltreatment subtypes (i.e., child physical abuse, child sexual abuse, child emotional abuse, child neglect). We highlight the implications of this heightened specificity for clarifying the phenomenology of IGTM and elucidating its etiology. Finally, we present recommendations to refine our terminology, empirical methodology, and clinical practice.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    We examine CPA, CSA, CEA, and CN in this chapter. While exposure to domestic violence (DV) is a pernicious form of child maltreatment, a vast literature exists on the IGT of DV, the exploration of which is beyond the scope of this review. Indeed the entirely separate literature on DV illustrates our concern that research on IGTM has been constrained by a lack of integration of research on unitary experiences, and the exclusion of multiply embedded contexts. Moreover, we specifically examine IGTM in mothers and exclude fathers from this discussion. While there is some research on fathers as perpetrators of maltreatment, this extra dimension is ancillary to our main focus on subtypes of maltreatment in our current discussion. Therefore, when we discuss type-specific transmission of CSA, for example, we will be referring to mothers who experienced CSA and their children who have experienced CSA, even though mothers do not typically perpetrate this type of maltreatment.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. California State University, Northridge, CA, USA

    Sara R. Berzenski

  2. University of California, Riverside, CA, USA

    Tuppett M. Yates

  3. University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA

    Byron Egeland

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  1. Sara R. Berzenski
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  2. Tuppett M. Yates
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  3. Byron Egeland
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Correspondence to Sara R. Berzenski .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. College of Arts and Sciences, Schubert Center for Child Studies, Cleveland, Ohio, USA

    Jill E. Korbin

  2. University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, Colorado, USA

    Richard D. Krugman

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Berzenski, S.R., Yates, T.M., Egeland, B. (2014). A Multidimensional View of Continuity in Intergenerational Transmission of Child Maltreatment. In: Korbin, J., Krugman, R. (eds) Handbook of Child Maltreatment. Child Maltreatment, vol 2. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7208-3_6

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