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Cited by 43Child Abuse and TraumaChild and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional DevelopmentChild Welfare and Adoption

The Role of Parental Emotion Reactivity and Regulation in Child Maltreatment and Maltreatment Risk: A Meta-Analytic Review

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Lavi, Iris, Ozer, Emily J., Katz, Lynn Fainsilber, Gross, James J.·2021·Clinical Psychology Review
DOI 10.1016/j.cpr.2021.102099
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Abstract

The prevalence and impact of child maltreatment make the scientific investigation of this phenomenon a matter of vital importance. Prior research has examined associations between problematic patterns of parents' emotion reactivity and regulation and child maltreatment and maltreatment risk. However, the strength and specificity of these relationships is not yet clear. To address this, we conducted a systematic literature search of four databases from inception through February 2021 to identify studies that reported these relationships. Our resulting meta-analysis of maltreatment involved parents of children who are up to 18 years of age (k = 46, encompassing 6669 parents). Our focus was the magnitude of the difference in levels of emotion reactivity and regulation between parents who maltreat or are at risk of maltreating and parents who do not maltreat their children or are not at risk of maltreating their children. As expected, results from meta-analyses using robust variance estimation indicated significantly higher problems with reactivity and regulation in maltreating parents / parents at risk (r = 0.40, k = 140; 95% CI [0.34, 0.45]), indicating that maltreating / at risk parents were more likely to have overall worse measures of reactivity and regulation. In comparison to non-maltreating parents, maltreating / at risk parents experience more negative emotions, display more negative emotion behavior, and are more dysregulated. These effects were fairly stable with little to no remaining heterogeneity. The current review concludes with a theoretical framework outlining the role of emotion reactivity and regulation in multiple risk factors of maltreatment, aiming to guide future study in this area.

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Authors
Lavi, I., Ozer, E. J., Katz, L. F., & Gross, J. J.
Affiliations
  • University of Bath (GB)
  • University of California, Berkeley (US)
  • University of Washington (US)
  • Stanford University (US)
Corresponding author
Lavi, Iris
ORCID
Venue
Clinical Psychology Review
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2021-12
Volume
90
Pages
102099
ISSN
0272-7358 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.cpr.2021.102099
OpenAlex
W3208793904
Cited by
43
References
159
Citations by year
2026: 9 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 2
FWCI
0.63
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Clinical Psychology Review (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Pure (University of Bath) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
Funders
  • Marie Curie
  • European Commission
  • University of Haifa
  • Haruv Institute
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child Abuse and Trauma
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
  • Social Sciences › Safety Research › Child Welfare and Adoption
Keywords
child abuse, emotion regulation, negative emotions, risk factors for child abuse, parent-child relationship
MeSH terms
Child, Child Abuse, Emotions, Humans, Parents, Risk Factors

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