Intergenerational Transmissions Of Child Maltreatment:The Role Of Maternal Trait Depression And SES

Child maltreatment is a major public health issue worldwide.A large amount of researches have provided the support for the intergenerational transmission of child maltreatment,which occurred when maltreated parents maltreated their own children.However,most research that focused on the intergenerational transmission of child maltreatment has been conducted in Western settings and very little is known about the intergenerational transmission of child maltreatment in a representative sample of Chinese family.Accordingly,the current study explored the characteristics of the intergenerational transmission of child maltreatment conducted by both mother and children in Chinese societies.Furthermore,the present study examined effect both maternal trait depression and SES on the intergenerational transmission of child maltreatment and the mechanism of the intergenerational transmission of child maltreatment.We expected to further reveal the relationship and mechanism the intergenerational transmission of child maltreatment.Applying cross-sectional design,The sample was consisted of 405 mother-child dyads in the end(201 mother-son dyads and 204 mother-daughter dyads)who were recruited from two middle schools in Harbin of Heilongjiang province,northern China.Childhood trauma questionnaires,trait depression sub-scale of the state-trait depression inventory and family SES scale were distributed to mothers in order to survey the maltreatment they experienced in childhood,the level of maternal trait depression,family socioeconomic status and the based demographics information.Childhood trauma questionnaires were distributed to middle students in order to survey child maltreatment they experienced in childhood.SPSS 24.0 amos24.0 and mplus7.4was used to analyze data.The main conclusions of the study were as follows:(1)Total scores of child maltreatment,child physical abuse,child emotional abuse,child physical neglect had significant main effect of gender.The boy's childhood maltreatment was more than girls.(2)The level of maternal childhood maltreatment was significantly different in maternal trait depression.The level of trait depression in high group of maternal childhoodmaltreatment was more serious than low group.(3)The level of maternal childhood maltreatment was significantly different in children childhood maltreatment.The level of children childhood maltreatment in high group of maternal childhood maltreatment was more serious than low group.(4)The level of family SES was significantly different in children childhood maltreatment.The level of children childhood maltreatment in high group of family SES was more serious than low group.(5)The canonical correlation analysis showed that maternal emotional abuse,physical abuse,emotional neglect and physical neglect were separately related to the children's emotional abuse,physical abuse,emotional neglect and physical neglect.And the homogenous intergenerational transmission of child maltreatment was greater than the heterogeneous intergenerational transmission.(6)The structural equation model showed that intergenerational transmission of child maltreatment included not only 70.88% of the maternal childhood maltreatment experience directly predicting children childhood maltreatment,but also 29.12% indirect effect of maternal trait depression.The direct effect of intergenerational transmission of child maltreatment was moderated by family SES.That was,as the level of family SES increased,the intergenerational transmission effect of child maltreatment tended to decrease.Therefore,the high level of family SES was a protective factor in the intergenerational transmission of child maltreatment.