Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T08:38:14.087Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The transmission of mother-child boundary disturbances across three generations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 2009

Deborah B. Jacobvitz ,
Elizabeth Morgan ,
Molly D. Kretchmar  and
Yvonne Morgan
Deborah B. Jacobvitz*
Affiliation:
The University of Texas at Austin
Elizabeth Morgan
Affiliation:
The University of Texas at Austin
Molly D. Kretchmar
Affiliation:
The University of Texas at Austin
Yvonne Morgan
Affiliation:
The University of Texas at Austin
*
Address reprint requests to: Deborah B. Jacobvitz, Child Development and Family Relationships, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Attachment theory and family systems perspectives were used to explore the intergenerational origins of an overinvolved, symbiotic parenting pattern that hampers children's emerging autonomy. Consistent with principles of developmental psychopathology, the same underlying relationship disturbance was expected to manifest differently at different times in the developmental process. Specifically, links among maternal intrusiveness during infancy, overprotection during childhood, and mother-child role-reversal during young adulthood were explored. Forty-nine maternal grandmothers, mothers, and firstborn infants were visited in the mothers' homes when the infants were 6 and 9 months old. Grandmothers' memories of overprotection were related to observational ratings of high boundary dissolution and low positive affectivity with the mothers. No significant relationships were found between mothers' past and current relationships with the grandmothers. Yet, mothers' memories of overprotection during childhood or their current participation in unaffectionate, enmeshed, and role-reversed relationships with their mothers forecast their intrusive care with their own infants. Moreover, mothers' memories of overprotection related to their beliefs that others cannot be trusted and these beliefs were related, in turn, to observations of their intrusive care at 9 months. The implications of understanding the origins of maternal intrusiveness for developing prevention programs are discussed.

Type
Articles
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 3 , Issue 4 , October 1991 , pp. 513 - 527
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ainsworth, M. D. S., Blehar, M. C., Waters, E., & Wall, S. (1978). Patterns of attachment: A psychological study of the strange situation. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Belsky, J., Rovine, M., & Taylor, D. G. (1984). The Pennsylvania Infant and Family Development Project, III: The origins of individual differences in infant-mother attachment: Maternal and infant contributions. Child Development, 55, 718–728.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Benoit, D., Vidovic, D., & Roman, J. (1991, 04). Transmission of attachment across three generations. In Steele, H. (Chair), Parental representations of attachment: Links across three generations. Symposium conducted at the meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Seattle, WA.Google Scholar
Biringen, Z. (1990). Direct observation of maternal sensitivity and dyadic interactions in the home: Relations to maternal thinking. Developmental Psychology, 26, 278–284.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blos, P. (1979). The Adolescent Passage. New York: International Universities Press.Google Scholar
Bowen, M. (1978). Family therapy in clinical practice. New York: Aronson.Google Scholar
Bowlby, J. (1980). Attachment and loss. Vol 3. Loss, sadness and depression. New York: Basic.Google Scholar
Browne, A., & Finkelhor, D. (1986). Impact of child sexual abuse: A review of the research. Psychological Bulletin, 99, 66–67.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carlson, V., Cicchetti, D., Barnett, D., & Braunwald, K. G. (1989). Finding order in disorganization: Lessons from research on maltreated infants' attachments to their caregivers. In Cicchetti, D. and Carlson, V. (Eds.), Child maltreatment: Theory and research on the causes and consequences of maltreatment (pp. 494–528). New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cicchetti, D. (1990). Developmental psychopathology and the prevention of serious mental disorders: Overdue detente and illustrations through the affective disorders. In Muehrer, P. (Ed.), Conceptual research models for prevention of mental disorders (pp. 251–254). Rockville, MD: National Institute of Mental Health.Google Scholar
Cicchetti, D., Toth, S., & Bush, M. (1988). Developmental psychopathology and incompetence in childhood: Suggestions for intervention. In Lahey, B. & Kazdin, A. (Eds.), Advances in clinical psychology (Vol. 11, pp. 1–71). New York: Plenum.Google Scholar
Cohn, T. F., Matias, R., Tronick, E. Z., Connell, D., & Lyons-Ruth, K. (1987). Face to face interactions of depressed mothers and their infants. In Tronick, E. & Field, T. M. (Eds.), New directions for child development (pp. 31–45). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Davis, M. H. (1983). Measuring individual differences in empathy: Evidence for a multidimensional approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 44, 113–126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Egeland, B. (1985, 04). The impact of an interfering style of parenting behavior on the later development of the child. In Lyons-Ruth, K. (Chair), Young children at risk for maltreatment: Maternal interaction patterns and child coping strategies. Symposium conducted at the meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.Google Scholar
Egeland, B., Jacobvitz, D., & Papatola, K. (1987). Intergenerational continuity of parental abuse. In Lancaster, J. & Gelles, R. (Eds.), Biosocial Aspects of Child Abuse (pp. 255–276). New York: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Egeland, B., Jacobvitz, D., & Sroufe, L. A. (1988). Breaking the cycle of abuse. Child Development, 59, 1080–1088.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Egeland, B., Pianta, R., & O'Brien, M. A. (1991). Maternal intrusiveness in infancy and child maladaptation in early school years. Unpublished manuscript, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.Google Scholar
Egeland, B., & Sroufe, L. A. (1981). Developmental sequelae of maltreatment in infancy. In Rizley, R. & Cicchetti, D. (Eds.), Developmental perspectives in child maltreatment (Vol. 11, pp. 77–92). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Elicker, J., Englund, M., & Sroufe, L. A. (in press). Predicting peer competence and peer relationships in childhood from early parent-child relationships. In Park, R. & Ladd, G. (Eds.), Family-peer relationships: Modes of linkage. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Epstein, S. (1983). The mother-father-peer scale. Unpublished manuscript, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.Google Scholar
Epstein, S. (1989). Personal beliefs and attitudes test. Unpublished manuscript, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.Google Scholar
Fleeson, J. (1988). Assessment of parent-adolescent relationships: Implications for adolescent development. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.Google Scholar
Fonagy, P., Steele, H., & Steele, M. (in press). Maternal representations of attachment during pregnancy predict the organization of infant-mother attachment at one year of age. Child Development.Google Scholar
Fullinwider, N., & Jacobvitz, D. B. (1991). Differential qualities of family connectedness and older adolescent development. Manuscript submitted for publication.Google Scholar
Grossmann, K., Fremmer-Bombik, E., Rudolph, J., & Grossmann, K. E. (1988). Maternal attachment representations as related to patterns of infant-mother attachment and maternal care during the first year. In Hinde, R. A. & Stevenson-Hinde, J. (Eds.), Relationships within families: Mutual influences (pp. 241–260). Oxford, England: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Hall, F., Pawlby, S., & Wolkind, S. (1979). Early life experiences and later mothering behavior. A study of mothers and their 20-week-old babies. In Shaffer, D. & Dunn, J. (Eds.), The first year of life: Psychological and medical implications of early experience (pp. 153–174). New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Holden, G. W., & Edwards, L. A. (1989). Parental attitudes toward child rearing: Instruments, issues and implications. Psychological Bulletin, 706(1), 29–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacobvitz, D. (1988). The early caregiver-child relationship and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in school children. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.Google Scholar
Jacobvitz, D., & Fullinwider, N. (1991). Reconstructions of family relationships: Child alliances, personal distress, and self-esteem. Manuscript under revision.Google Scholar
Jacobvitz, D., Fullinwider, N., & Loera, L. (1991, 04). Representation of childhood family patterns, the self, and intimacy in romantic relation-ships. In Cohn, D. A. (Chair), Working models of attachment and couple relationships. Symposium conducted at the meeting of the Society for Re-search in Child Development, Seattle, WA.Google Scholar
Jacobvitz, D., & Sroufe, L. A. (1987). The early caregiver-child relationship and attention-deficit disorder with hyperactivity in kindergarten: A prospective study. Child Development, 58, 1496–1504.Google ScholarPubMed
Lyons-Ruth, K., Zoll, D., Connell, D., & Grunebaum, H. V. (1989). Family deviance and family disruption in childhood: Associations with maternal behavior and infant maltreatment during the first years of life. Development and Psychopathology, 1, 219–236.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Main, M., & Goldwyn, R. (in press). Interview-based adult attachment classifications: Related to infant-mother and infant -father attachment. Developmental Psychology.Google Scholar
Mancini, J. A., & Blieszner, R. (1989). Aging parents and adult children: Research themes in intergenerational relations. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 51, 275–290.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Minuchin, S. (1974). Families and family therapy. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morris, D. (1980). Infant attachment and problem solving in the toddler: Relations to mother's family history. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.Google Scholar
Ricks, M. (1985). The social transmission of parental behavior: Attachment across generations. In Bretherton, I. & Waters, E. (Eds.), Crowing points of attachment theory and research. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 50 (1–2, Serial No. 209), 211–227.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sander, L. W. (1975). Infant and caretaking environment. In Anthony, E. T. (Ed.), Explorations in child psychiatry (pp. 129–166). New York: Plenum.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simons, R. L., Whitbeck, L. B., Conger, R. D., & Chyi-In, W. (1991). Intergenerational transmission of harsh parenting. Developmental Psychology, 27, 159–171.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sroufe, L. A. (1990). Considering normal and abnormal together: The essence of developmental psychopathology. Development and Psychopathology, 2, 335–347.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sroufe, L. A. (1989). Relationships, self, and individual adaptation. In Sameroff, A. J. & Emde, R. N. (Eds.), Relationship disturbances in early child-hood: A developmental approach (pp. 70–94). New York: Basic.Google Scholar
Sroufe, L. A., & Fleeson, J. (1986). Attachment and the construction of relationships. In Hartup, W. & Rubin, Z. (Eds.), Relationships and Development (pp. 51–72). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Sroufe, L. A., & Jacobvitz, D. (1989). Diverging path-ways, developmental transformations, multiple etiologies and the problem of continuity in development. Human Development, 32, 96–103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sroufe, L. A., Jacobvitz, D., Mangelsdorf, S., DeAngelo, E., & Ward, M. J. (1985). Generational boundary dissolution between mothers and their preschool children: A relationship systems approach. Child Development, 56, 317–332.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stern, D. (1985). The interpersonal world of the infant. New York: Basic.Google Scholar
Walker, L., Redland, A., & West, B. (1989, 04). Cognitive and affective mechanisms of maternal empathy in early intervention. Paper presented at the meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Kansas City, MO.Google Scholar
Ward, M. J., Marcus, L. R., Ezra, K., Altman, S. C., & Levine, L. V. (1991, 04). Intergenerational transmission of attachments and discipline strategies in families of adolescent mothers. In Holden, G. & Jacobvitz, D. (Chairs), Intergenerational transmission of parenting: Attachment, empathy, and discipline. Symposium conducted at the meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Seattle, WA.Google Scholar
Waters, E., & Sroufe, L. A. (1983). Competence as a developmental construct. Developmental Review, 3, 79–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar