Intergenerational continuity of child maltreatment exposure, mother-offspring relationship quality, and adult romantic attachment in emerging adults

Background: Child maltreatment (CM; sexual and physical abuse, emotional maltreatment, neglect, and exposure to intimate partner violence) is a prevalent and harmful public health problem, with severe consequences for children's physical, psychological, and social development. CM exposure has been found to recur in families, indicating intergenerational continuity, which may stem from attachment-related factors.

Objective: This study aimed to examine whether mothers' CM exposure is associated with attachment insecurity in their emerging adult offspring, through the emerging adult's CM exposure and mother-emerging adult relationship quality.

Participants and setting: A sample of 139 mother-emerging adult dyads were recruited across Canada.

Methods: Participants completed an online survey documenting CM exposure, attachment, and relationship quality. A sequential mediation model was tested.

Results: An indirect association was found for mother's CM exposure with emerging adult romantic attachment anxiety, through emerging adult's CM exposure and mother-emerging adult relationship quality (β = 0.02, p = .036), and with romantic attachment avoidance through emerging adult CM exposure alone (β = 0.03, p = .047). Findings suggest that mothers reporting greater CM exposure tended to have offspring reporting greater CM exposure, which was negatively associated with mother-emerging adult relationship quality, and in turn greater emerging adult romantic attachment insecurity.

Conclusions: Future research should replicate these findings using dyadic modeling with larger samples and longitudinal data. Policies increasing the accessibility of individual and group interventions for emerging adults and their parents who experienced CM are needed, particularly targeting interpersonal functioning, which may increase their social resources and reduce revictimization risk.