			Home About us Contact

Maternal Representations (maternal + representation)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Psychology	42%

Selected Abstracts

Memory, Maternal Representations, and Internalizing Symptomatology Among Abused, Neglected, and Nonmaltreated Children

CHILD DEVELOPMENT, Issue 3 2008
Kristin Valentino
A depth-of-processing incidental recall task for maternal-referent stimuli was utilized to assess basic memory processes and the affective valence of maternal representations among abused (N = 63), neglected (N = 33), and nonmaltreated (N = 128) school-aged children (ages 8,13.5 years old). Self-reported and observer-rated indices of internalizing symptoms were also assessed. Abused children demonstrated impairments in recall compared to neglected and nonmaltreated children. Although abused, neglected, and nonmaltreated children did not differ in valence of maternal representations, positive and negative maternal schemas related to internalizing symptoms differently among subgroups of maltreated children. Valence of maternal schema was critical in differentiating those with high and low internalizing symptomatology among the neglected children only. Implications for clinical intervention and prevention efforts are underscored. [source]

Maternal representations during pregnancy and early motherhood

INFANT MENTAL HEALTH JOURNAL, Issue 1 2004
Ebru Taskin Ilicali
The aim of the present study was to study the maternal representations of pregnant women and mothers in their early postpartum period, by beginning the process of validating the maternal representations questionnaire L'entretien R1 and by developing a means to assess the content-free aspects of the representations. Participants were 23 primiparous (first-time mothers) pregnant women in their fourth to seventh month of pregnancy and 22 primiparous mothers in their early (zero to six months) postpartum period. It was found that the four subscales of L'entretien (self-as-mother, self-as-person, own-mother, and partner) produced meaningful results for Turkish subjects. The results were compatible with the idea of integrated representations of self-as-person and self-as-mother even in the second trimester of their pregnancy and also showed that they could differentiate themselves from their mothers as early as that period. The results revealed no significant differences in the content and content-free dimensions of the representations of pregnant women and mothers. ©2004 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health. [source]

Understanding the "ghosts in the nursery" of pregnant women experiencing domestic violence: Prenatal maternal representations and histories of childhood maltreatment,

INFANT MENTAL HEALTH JOURNAL, Issue 4 2010
Johanna C. Malone
Selma Fraiberg and colleagues (1975) conceptualized the "ghosts in the nursery" as experiences from a mother's past that influenced her ability to form a warm and attuned relationship with her child. Contemporary infant mental health interventions often ask the mother to reflect on her own history of attachment relationships to gain insight into as well as to strengthen her developing relationship with her child. This study investigated the association between a mother's history of childhood maltreatment (CM) and her subsequent prenatal maternal representation during the third trimester of pregnancy. Controlling for domestic violence (DV), distorted prenatal representations were associated with higher rates of self-reported childhood physical neglect. In addition, DV moderated the relationship between representations and CM, such that women who were exposed to DV during pregnancy and had distorted prenatal representations were least likely to report childhood physical and sexual abuse. Implications are discussed in relation to infant mental health interventions which rely on a parent's ability to psychologically access and reflect on childhood histories to more sensitively parent her own child. Selma Fraiberg y colegas (1975) definió el concepto de "fantasmas en el cuarto de los niños" como experiencias del pasado de las madres que ejercen influencia en la habilidad de ella para formarse una cálida y afinada relación con su infante. A menudo, las intervenciones contemporáneas de la salud mental infantil les piden a las madres que reflexionen sobre su propia historia de relaciones afectivas con el fin de lograr un mejor conocimiento y al mismo tiempo hacer más fuerte la relación que están desarrollando con sus hijos. Este estudio investigó la asociación entre la historia de una madre que tuvo una niñez llena de maltratos (CM) y su subsiguiente representación maternal prenatal durante el tercer trimestre del embarazo. Considerando por medio del experimento de control la variable de la violencia doméstica, (DV), las representaciones prenatales distorsionadas se asociaron con puntajes más altos de la auto-reportada negligencia física en la niñez. Es más, la violencia doméstica (DV) sirvió para moderar la relación entre las representaciones y el maltrato en la niñez (CM), a tal punto de que las mujeres que habían estado expuestas a la violencia doméstica (DV) durante el embarazo y tenían representaciones prenatales distorsionadas fueron las menos propensas a reportar el abuso físico y sexual en la niñez. Se discuten las implicaciones en relación con las intervenciones de la salud mental infantil que dependen de la habilidad de la madre de acceder a y reflexionar sobre sus historias de la niñez, sicológicamente, con el fin de criar a su propio infante con una mayor sensibilidad. Selma Fraiberg et collègues (1975) conceptualisa les "fantômes dans la crèche" en tant qu'expériences d'un passé de la mère qui ont influencé sa capacité à former une relation chaleureuse et sensible avec son enfant. Les interventions contemporaines de santé mentale du nourrisson demandent souvent à la mère de faire un effort de réflexion sur sa propre histoire de relations d'attachement afin d'arriver à mieux connaître sa relation qui se développe avec son enfant, et aussi de la renforcer. Cette étude s'est penchée sur l'association entre l'histoire de maltraitance durant l'enfance de la mère (abrégé CM en anglais) et sa représentation maternelle prénatale ultérieure durant le troisième trimestre de la grossesse. Avec un contrôle pour la violence conjugale (abrégée DV en anglais), les représentations prénatales déformées étaient liées à des taux plus élevés de négligence physique durant l'enfance auto-rapportées. De plus, la violence conjugale (DV) modérait la relation entre les représentations et la maltraitance durant l'enfance (CM), d'une telle manière que les femmes qui ont été exposées à la violence conjugale (DV) durant la grossesse et qui faisaient preuve de représentations prénatales déformées étaient les moins à même de signaler une maltraitance physique et des abus sexuels. Les implications sont discutées en relation aux interventions de santé mentale du nourrisson qui reposent que la capacité d'un parent à accéder psychologiquement aux histoires de son enfance et à y réfléchir de fa,on à élever son propre enfant de plus sensiblement. Selma Fraiberg und Kollegen (1975) konzeptualisiert die "Gespenster im Kinderzimmer", als Erfahrungen aus der Vergangenheit der Mutter, die ihre Fähigkeit, eine warme und angemessene Beziehung zu ihrem Kind aufzubauen. Zeitgemäße Interventionen der seelische Gesundheit von Kleinkindern fragen Mütter oft nach ihrer eigenen Geschichte von Bindungsbeziehungen, um einen Einblick zu bekommen, damit die sich entwickelnde Beziehung zu ihrem Kind gestärkt werden kann. Die vorliegende Studie untersuchte den Zusammenhang zwischen mütterlichen Misshandlungserfahrungen (CM) und deren späteren Schilderungen im dritten Trimenon ihrer eigenen Schwangerschaft. Maßgeblich für häusliche Gewalt (DV) war eine verzerrte Darstellung, die mit einer höheren Rate von selbst berichteter körperlicher Verwahrlosung assoziiert war. Darüber hinaus beeinflusste DV die Beziehung zwischen den Vorstellungen und den CM, so dass Frauen, die während der Schwangerschaft DV ausgesetzt waren, und verzerrten Darstellungen hatten mit großer Wahrscheinlichkeit von körperlichen und sexuellen Missbrauch berichteten. Die Auswirkungen werden in Bezug auf Interventionen der psychischen Gesundheit von Kindern diskutiert, die die elterliche Fähigkeit, psychologische Zusammenhänge zu verstehen und darüber hinaus zu Reflexion über die eigenen Kindheitsgeschichten anregen, damit die Eltern sensibler auf ihr eigenes Kind reagieren können. [source]

Maternal representations during pregnancy and early motherhood

Self- and maternal representations, relatedness patterns, and problem behavior in middle childhood

PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS, Issue 2 2008
ARIELA WANIEL
The present study investigated the association between children's representations of their mothers' and teachers' reports of children's problem behavior. The research team conducted semistructured narrative interviews with a community sample of 203 Israeli 9- to 11-year-old children. Ten months later, researchers collected teachers' reports of children's internalizing and externalizing problems. This study investigated whether children's self-representation narratives and their maladaptive relatedness stances questionnaire scores mediated this association. Results indicated that children reporting benevolent representations of their mothers exhibited lower levels of problem behavior. More positive self-representations and lower levels of skewness in children's relatedness stances to their mothers both mediated this association. This article includes a discussion of these results in light of factors contributing to maladjustment in middle childhood. [source]