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

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.

Emotional availability in mothers with borderline personality disorder and mothers with remitted major depression is differently associated with psychopathology among school-aged children.

Background: Both, maternal borderline personality disorder (BPD) and maternal major depressive disorder (MDD) are often associated with adverse consequences for children, including increased risk for child behavior problems. Reduced maternal emotional availability might play a critical role in transmitting maternal psychopathology on the child. Our aim was to investigate the association between emotional availability and maternal BPD and MDD in remission (rMDD), and if this interrelatedness mediates the association between maternal mental disorders and child behavior problems.

Early life maltreatment but not lifetime depression predicts insecure attachment in women.

Early life maltreatment (ELM) poses a risk for the development of insecure attachment and depression over the life span, depending on the type of maltreatment (physical, sexual, emotional, neglect) and its severity. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of ELM and lifetime depression on adult insecure attachment in a female sample (N = 188), consisting of n = 81 women with ELM and n = 107 without ELM. Women with ELM reported significantly higher scores on insecure attachment than women without ELM.

EMOTIONAL AVAILABILITY IN MOTHER-CHILD INTERACTION: THE EFFECTS OF MATERNAL DEPRESSION IN REMISSION AND ADDITIONAL HISTORY OF CHILDHOOD ABUSE.

Background: The association between maternal depression and adverse outcomes in children is well established. Similar links have been found for maternal childhood abuse. One proposed pathway of risk transmission is reduced maternal emotional availability.

Transgenerational effects of maternal depression on affect recognition in children.

Background: The association between maternal depression and adverse emotional and behavioral outcomes in children is well established. One associated factor might be altered affect recognition which may be transmitted transgenerationally. Individuals with history of depression show biased recognition of sadness.