CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 165Psychoanalysis and Psychopathology ResearchChild Abuse and TraumaPosttraumatic Stress Disorder Research

Distorted maternal mental representations and atypical behavior in a clinical sample of violence-exposed mothers and their toddlers.

Open access
Schechter, Daniel S., Coates, Susan W., Kaminer, Tammy, Coots, Tammy, Zeanah, Charles H., Davies, Mark, Schonfeld, Irvin S., Marshall, Randall D. +4 more·2008·Journal of Trauma & Dissociation
DOI 10.1080/15299730802045666PMC PMC2577290
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether maternal violence-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), reflective functioning (RF), and/or quality of mental representations of her child predict maternal behavior within a referred sample of interpersonal violence-exposed mothers and their children (ages 8-50 months). METHOD: Forty-one dyads completed two videotaped visits including measures of maternal mental representations and behavior. RESULTS: Negative and distorted maternal mental representations predicted atypical behavior (Cohen's d>1.0). While maternal PTSD and RF impacted mental representations, no significant relationships were found between PTSD, RF, and overall atypical caregiving behavior. Severity of maternal PTSD was however positively correlated with the avoidant caregiving behavior subscale. CONCLUSIONS: Maternal mental representations of her child are useful risk-indicators that mark dysregulation of trauma-associated emotions in the caregiver.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1080/15299730802045666

Cites

45 of 45 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

We couldn’t retrieve this paper’s full text, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • In a sample of referred mothers who experienced traumatic and violent events before age 16, the quality of maternal mental representations on the WMCI was associated both with caregiving behavior and with WMCI-RF, but WMCI-RF did not correlate with atypical maternal behavior.

    “In their clinical sample, the quality of maternal mental representations on the WMCI was associated both with caregiving behavior and with WMCI-RF, but the latter did not correlate with atypical maternal behavior.”

    From Mentalizing makes parenting work: a review about parental reflective functioning and clinical interventions to improve it (2017) · cites this paper as Schechter et al., 2008

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Schechter, D. S., Coates, S. W., Kaminer, T., Coots, T., Zeanah, C. H., Davies, M., Schonfeld, I. S., Marshall, R. D., Liebowitz, M. R., Trabka, K. A., McCaw, J. E., & Myers, M. M.
Affiliations
  • Columbia University Irving Medical Center (US)
  • Tulane University (US)
  • City College of New York (US)
Corresponding author
Schechter, Daniel S.
ORCID
Venue
Journal of Trauma & Dissociation
Publisher
Informa UK Limited
Published
2008-06-02
Volume
9
Issue
2
Pages
123-147
ISSN
  • 1529-9732 (ISSN-L)
  • 1529-9740
DOI
10.1080/15299730802045666
PMC
PMC2577290
OpenAlex
W2089856180
Cited by
165
References
44
Citations by year
2026: 10 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 16 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 16 · 2014: 13 · 2013: 8 · 2012: 7
FWCI
5.56
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Journal of Trauma & Dissociation (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • CUNY Academic Works (City University of New York) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • National Institute of Mental Health (K23MH068405)
  • National Center for Research Resources (M01RR000645)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychoanalysis and Psychopathology Research
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child Abuse and Trauma
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research
Keywords
post-traumatic stress disorder, reflective functioning, mothers, toddlers, risk indicators, mother-child dyads
MeSH terms
Child, Preschool, Ethnicity, Female, Humans, Infant, Male, Maternal Behavior, Mother-Child Relations, Surveys and Questionnaires, Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic, Domestic Violence, Battered Women

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review