My life is a longing: child abuse and its adult sequelae. Results of the Brody longitudinal study from birth to age 30.

The psychoanalytically oriented Brody longitudinal study has followed the psychological development of 76 individuals from birth to age 30. Ten suffered severe maltreatment in childhood in the form of rejection and/or physical abuse at the hands of one or both parents. This report describes the effects of child abuse on the emerging personalities of the children, as well as on their adult personalities and mental health.

Transition to young adulthood: a prospective study.

In this paper, the authors report on the transition to young adulthood (18-25) in the highest functioning 18 individuals in our cohort (GAF > or = 90) from a prospective longitudinal study of 76 lives followed from birth. These 18 individuals provide as clear a view as possible into the inner lives of people least distorted by psychopathology. This gives us a more crystalline photograph of psychic structure: the precipitant of family, society and psyche itself.

The relationship between mothering in infancy, childhood experience and adult mental health: results of the Brody prospective longitudinal study from birth to age 30.

This longitudinal study has followed seventy-six individuals from birth to age 30 using films of the mother-child interaction, psychoanalytically informed interviews of parents and children, and psychodiagnostic testing to assess how the quality of mothering a child receives in the first year of life contributes to his/her subsequent emotional well-being. The thirty-year follow-up of the now adult participants found that those who had received more effective care in infancy in terms of maternal empathy, consistency, control, thoughtfulness, affection and management of aggression had higher-level psychological defence mechanisms as adults than children receiving less effective nurturing--suggesting a process in which the children internalised their mothers' own defence mechanisms. Other measures at 30 years (Global Functioning, Erikson psychosocial attainment, mental representation of security of attachment to parents and presence or absence of a psychiatric diagnosis) did not achieve statistical significance.