from emotional abuse in childhood to psychopathology in adulthood
TRANSCRIPT
From Emotional Abuse in Childhood to Psychopathology in Adulthood: A
Path Mediated by Immature Defense Mechanisms and Self-esteem
Ricky Finzi-Dottan, Ph.D.1
Toby Karu, M.A.2
Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 2006
Aug; 194 (8):616-210
Correspondence: Ricky Finzi-Dottan, Ph.D. Geha Mental Health Center Petah Tiqva, P.O.B. 102, Israel (49100). Fax: 972-3-9258456 e-mail: [email protected]
Running head - Childhood Emotional Psychopathology in Adulthood
1 Geha Mental Health Center, Petah Tiqva, P.O.B. 102, Israel (49100); School of Social Work, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel, (52900). 2 School of Social Work, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel, (52900).
Childhood Emotional Abuse and Psychopathology in Adulthood 1
From Emotional Abuse in Childhood to Psychopathology in Adulthood: A Path
Mediated by Immature Defense Mechanisms and Self-esteem
ABSTRACT
Objective: Examination of the course traveled from childhood emotional abuse to
adulthood psychopathology.
Method: one hundred and ninety six undergraduate students, aged 20-45 (M=27;
sd=8.17), answered self-report questionnaires that estimate emotional abuse in
childhood (CTQ), parental attitudes (PBI), psychopathological symptomatology (BSI),
self esteem (RSE), and defense mechanism organization (DSQ).
Results: Reported psychopathological symptomatology highly exceeded the Israeli
norm. Structure Equation Modeling provided a statistically significant explanation
(52%) of the target variable: psychopathology symptomatology. According to the path
model, emotional abuse in childhood and perceptions of controlling and non-caring
parents had an indirect effect on the psychopathology. This was mediated by immature
defenses and low self-esteem.
Conclusions: The manifested psychopathology among adults who underwent emotional
abuse in childhood is produced by the detrimental effect of abuse on personality and
takes the form of immature defense organization and damaged self-representation.
Key Words: Emotional abuse; Perception of parental attitudes; Psychopathological
symptomatology; Defense mechanisms; Self-esteem
Childhood Emotional Abuse and Psychopathology in Adulthood 2
INDODUCTION
In the last decade, research into childhood emotional abuse has produced a consensus
about its adverse psychological and social consequences in adulthood (Varia & Abidin,
1999). However, despite the abundance of research on the various types of abuse, few
studies have examined the long-term consequences of emotional abuse, and most of
these are clinical reports. There has been no study examining empirically the
psychodynamic processes that underline the psychopathology reported by adults who
have been victims of childhood emotional abuse.
Emotional abuse, defined as “soul murder” (Garbarino, Guttman & Seeley, 1987),
consists of recurrent parental critical attacks, rejection, devaluation, contempt and
ignoring the child, all of which undermine the child’s emerging identity. The parents
preserve their harsh control over the humiliated child by presenting their critical and
devaluing attacks as caring and protecting the child's welfare (Thompson & Kaplan,
1996). Research points to the psychopathogenic impact of emotional abuse (Gibb, et al,
2001; Simeon et al., 2001). Empirical research dealing with the consequences of
childhood emotional abuse on adult functioning is scarce, and relates mostly to low
self-esteem, impaired interpersonal relationships, negative perception of the world,
depressive moods, anxiety, suicidal tendencies, eating disorders, and overall psychiatric
symptomatology (Bifulco et al., 2002; Doyle, 2001; Ferguson & Dacey, 1997; Gibb et
al, 2001; Grilo & Masheb, 2002; Hart, Brassard & Karlson, 1996; Mazzeo & Espelage,
2002; Palmer et al, 2001; Portwood, 1999; Rich, Gingerich & Rosen, 1997; Spertus et
al., 2003; Thompson & Kaplan, 1996).
Childhood Emotional Abuse and Psychopathology in Adulthood 3
All these studies have been carried out within a predominantly direct and linear
design framework. The current research endeavors to go one step further in
understanding the mediating mechanisms that link childhood emotional abuse and
parental upbringing behaviors with adult psychopathology. In this study we focus on
two potential psychodynamic causes for injury to the personality which may lead to
psychopathology in adulthood: self esteem and ego defense mechanisms.
Self esteem - Clinical reports describe the major narcissistic damage to the child’s
personality and the detrimental hindrance to the development of the self, the imprints of
which accompany the child into adulthood (Burland, 1994; McCarthy, 1990; Mrazek &
Mrazek, 1987; Pearce & Pezzot-Pearce, 1997).
Defense mechanism organization is shaped in childhood and adolescence to cope
with inward and outward anxiety. This construct is pertinent to styles of coping which
have been derived from the psychoanalytic theory postulating that these unconscious
psychic processes regulate subjective experiences of painful ideas, affects, and
emotions. Ego mechanisms of defense are conceptually linked to psychological
development, personality traits, and psychopathology (Bond, Paris & Zweiz-Frank,
1994; Hauser & Safyer, 1995), and as such may have an important role in shaping
various psychiatric disorders (Paris et al., 1996). Psychoanalytic theories have claimed
that each type of psychopathological entity is characterized by the use of specific
maladaptive defense mechanisms. Defenses may be ordered hierarchically with respect
to their association with psychosocial maturity and psychopathology (Vaillant, 1992).
Vaillant (1992) divided defense mechanisms according to their level of maturity and
adaptiveness, and hypothesized that defense mechanisms, especially those qualified as
being immature, were indicators of psychopathology. Projection, denial of external
Childhood Emotional Abuse and Psychopathology in Adulthood 4
reality, splitting, and acting out represent immature (or “primitive”) defenses;
displacement, reaction formation, rationalization, undoing, isolation, and repression are
considered neurotic defenses; while sublimation, humor, suppression, and altruism are
considered to be mature defenses.
On this basis our model hypothesized that the immature defensive organization and
injured self-esteem mediate the process that leads from the experience of childhood
emotional abuse and the perception of parental behaviors to psychopathological
symptomatology in adulthood.
METHOD
Participants
We approached two hundred undergraduate students (66.2% women and 31.5% men)
from six academic institutes in Israel. Their age ranged from 20 to 45 years (M=27;
sd=8.17), and 31.5% were married.
One person refused to participate. One hundred and ninety nine participants gave their
written informed consent to take part in the study. One returned the questionnaires
explaining that it was difficult for him to answer the questions. Two subjects were
removed from the sample because we realized that they were over 45 years old. Thus
we were left with one hundred ninety six subjects for the study. A closure sheet attached
to the questionnaires suggested that participants approach the investigator for advice on
emotional counseling in response to painful memories that the questionnaire may have
aroused.
Childhood Emotional Abuse and Psychopathology in Adulthood 5
Measures
Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ; Bernstein & Fink, 1998), a 28-item
retrospective self-report questionnaire designed to assess five types of negative
childhood experiences. The Emotional Abuse subscale reflects the degree to which
respondents were verbally demeaned or felt humiliated (e.g., "People in my family
called me things like stupid, lazy, or ugly"). The Physical Abuse subscale reflects the
degree to which respondents were physically assaulted in ways that might result in
injury (e.g., "I was punished with a belt, a board, a cord, or some other hard object").
The Sexual Abuse subscale reflects respondents' experiences of coercive sexual contact
(e.g., "Someone tried to make me do sexual things or watch sexual things," "Someone
molested me"). The Emotional Neglect subscale reflects the degree to which
respondents' emotional needs were not met (e.g., "I felt loved" [reverse scored]). The
Physical Neglect subscale reflects the degree to which respondents' physical needs were
not met (e.g., "I didn't have enough to eat"). Each subscale is composed of five items.
Three additional items assess tendencies to minimize or deny abuse. Respondents rate
the truth of each item on a scale of 1 to 5, from "Never true" to "Very often true" when
they were growing up. Thus, scores range from 5 to 25 for each abuse type. The CTQ
has demonstrated reliability and validity, including test-retest reliability coefficients
ranging from .79 to .86 over an average of 4 months, internal consistency reliability
coefficients ranging from α=.66 to α=.92 across a range of samples (Bernstein & Fink,
1998), convergent validity with ratings of childhood maltreatment of both clinicians and
therapists, and a consistent five-factor structure (Bernstein & Fink, 1998; Bernstein et
al., 1997; Fink et al., 1995; Scher et al., 2001).
Childhood Emotional Abuse and Psychopathology in Adulthood 6
In the current study high internal reliability was found in all the sub-scales (emotional
abuse - α=.83; physical abuse - α=.80; sexual abuse - α=.81; emotional neglect - α=.88;
physical neglect - α=.82]. The correlations between emotional neglect and emotional
abuse was found to be high (r=.72; p<.001).
Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI; Parker et al., 1979), a 25 item self-report measure
designed to assess adults’ perceptions of their parents' bonding behavior during the first
16 years of life. Subjects were asked to complete the questionnaire twice, once with
reference to their mother, once to their father. Each item describes a type of parental
behavior, and subjects are asked to indicate the degree to which it applies to the parent
in question on a 4-piont Likert-type scale, ranging from 1 (very much like my
mother/father) to 4 (very unlike my mother/father). The PBI consists of two subscales:
Care and Overprotection. The Care subscale contains 12 items that measure
“care/involvement versus indifference/rejection” (Parker et al., 1979, pp. 2-3). The
Overprotection subscale contains 13 items that measure “control/over-protection versus
encouragement of independence” (Parker et al., 1979, p. 3). Ideal parenting is
represented by a low score on 'Overprotection' and a high score on 'Care'.
The PBI has been used in many psychological and psychiatric studies and has been
found to possess a robust factor structure and a high test-retest reliability (Parker, 1990).
Furthermore, support for the construct and predictive validity of the PBI has been found
in clinical samples (Parker, 1989, 1993; Wilhelm & Parker, 1990; Zweig-Frank & Paris,
1991) and in previous studies among Israeli adults and adolescents (Bachar, Canetti,
Galilee-Weisstub et al., 1998). In the present study, the Care and Overprotection scales
had high internal consistency: Cronbach's alpha was .92 for maternal care, .94 for
paternal care, .85 for maternal overprotection, and .89 for paternal overprotection.
Childhood Emotional Abuse and Psychopathology in Adulthood 7
Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale (RSE, Rosenberg, 1979), consisting of 10 items with
ranges from 1–4, with higher scores indicating higher self-esteem. The RSE has high
internal consistency (α- .88-.92), high test-retest validity (r = .85), and high levels of
validity when compared with other scales and with reports of interviewed raters (r=.67-
.56) (Corcoran & Fischer, 1987). The present study found high internal consistency - α
=.90.
Defense Style Questionnaire -(DSQ; Bond, 1986), a self-rating scale with 88 items,
rated on a Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 9 (strongly agree).
Statements represent the following defense mechanisms, clustered into four defense
styles ordered hierarchically according to their adaptiveness and ego maturity:
maladaptive, image-distorting, self sacrificing and adaptive. Maladaptive defenses
(regression, acting out, projection, withdrawal, and inhibition) consist of mechanisms
that interfere with the individual's ability to take constructive action on his/her own
behalf. Image-distorting defenses (omnipotence, splitting, and primitive idealization)
consist of mechanisms that interfere with interpersonal relationships by splitting images
of self and others into good and bad. These two scales reflect immature- primitive
defenses (Sammallahti, Komulainen & Aalberg, 2003; Vaillant, 1992) Self-sacrificing
defenses (reaction formation and pseudoaltruism) reflect a need to perceive oneself as
kind, helpful, and not angry. Adaptive defenses (suppression, sublimation, and humor)
reflect a constructive mastery of conflict.
The DSQ has good test-retest reliability and has been cross-validated by correlations
with other instruments measuring defenses (Ego Function Questionnaire; Bond et al.
1983; Defense Mechanism Rating Scales–DMRS; Bond, Perry, & Gautier, 1989;
Hersoug, Sexton & Hoglend, 2002). Studies have also reported on its ability to
Childhood Emotional Abuse and Psychopathology in Adulthood 8
discriminate among patients at different levels of functioning (Bond & Vaillant, 1986;
Bond, Perry, & Gautier, 1989).
In this study we clustered the defense styles according to their maturity level (Vaillant,
1992): immature-primitive, neurotic, and mature defenses. Internal consistency yielded
good reliability for the immature-primitive defenses (α=.83), moderate for the neurotic
defenses (α=.75), and low for the mature defenses (α=.54). Because the main goal of
the study was to examine the association between the use of immature-primitive
defenses and the impact in adulthood of childhood emotional abuse, we used only the
scale of these defenses, comprised of 34 items; a higher score indicates salient use of
immature defenses.
Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI; Derogatis & Spencer, 1982; Derogatis & Melisaratos,
1983), a screening instrument that measures psychiatric symptomatology and consists of
53 items that elicit perception of symptoms in the last month. BSI assesses
psychopathological symptomatology and measures the global severity index (GSI) as
well as nine subscales: somatization, obsessive-compulsion, interpersonal sensitivity,
depression, anxiety, hostility, phobic anxiety, paranoia, ideation, and psychotism.
The scale is used to assess the mental health of several populations (Canetti, Shalev &
Kaplan De-Nour, 1994). All subscales range from 0–4, with higher scores indicating
more mental health problems. The current study found high internal reliability for the
General Severity Index (α= .96), and moderate internal reliability for the nine sub-
scales (α= .62–.84).
Childhood Emotional Abuse and Psychopathology in Adulthood 9
RESULTS
Prevalence of Childhood Emotional Abuse
31.2% of the participants reported never having experienced emotional abuse, 47.7%
reported single episodes, 14.6% reported that they experienced emotional abuse
occasionally, 5.5% reported frequent occurrences, and 1% reported that they
experienced parental emotional abuse very often. Among those who reported emotional
abuse in retrospect, 69.31% reported that it was accompanied by other experiences of
abuse (physical, sexual, or neglect) while 30.69% reported experiencing only emotional
abuse.
Descriptive Statistics
Table 1 presents the means and sd's of the research variables as measured by the CTQ,
PBI, DSQ, RSE and BSI questionnaires. As can be seen from the table the parental care
and control scores in our study exceeded those reported among adolescents from intake
families. The self esteem scores exceeded those reported by Gross and Keller (1992),
that stemmed from adults who underwent childhood emotional abuse. The reported
psychopathological symptomatology, the target variable, exceeded the rates of the
Israeli norm (GSI - M=1.86; sd=.60, compared to the norm .75, sd=.50; Canetti,
Shalev & Kaplan De-Nour, 1994) as well as the norm obtained from an American
sample by the instrument's developers (.83, sd=59; Derogatis & Spencer, 1982).
Insert Table 1 about here
Pearson’s correlations between the independent and dependent variables, presented in
Table 2, show that the more severe the experience of childhood emotional abuse the
higher the levels of immature defense mechanisms and psychopathological
symptomatology. Similarly, the lower the level of self-esteem; and the more controlling
Childhood Emotional Abuse and Psychopathology in Adulthood 10
and non-caring the parents the higher the levels of immature defense mechanisms and of
psychopathological symptomatology, and the lower the level of self-esteem.
Insert Table 2 about here
Examination of the research model
Our research model assumes that the experience of childhood emotional abuse and
parental attitudes (controlling and caring) have an indirect effect on psychopathological
symptomatology in adulthood, mediated by the immature organization of defense
mechanisms and low self esteem.
We used structural equation modeling by LISREL (8.0) to examine the research model.
The exogenous variables were emotional abuse and parental care and control; the
mediating variables were immature defense mechanisms and self-esteem; and the
dependent variable was psychopathological symptomatology.
As shown in Figure 1, the analysis yielded high adjusted goodness of fit .93 - χ2=19.50;
df=14; p=.15; RMR=.032 (RMR= Root Mean Square Residual). Figure 1 presents only
the arrows that represent significant (p<.05 and higher) results, therefore the “paternal
care” variable whose contribution was insignificant (r=.08; p=.09) is not shown.
The figure shows that emotional abuse contributed most in predicting the mediating
variables (immature defense mechanisms and self esteem), and a minor but still
significant contribution to maternal control, to maternal care and to paternal control.
Thirty percent of the variance of self-esteem was explained by emotional abuse, by
parental (both maternal and paternal) control and by maternal care, and 29% of the
variance of the immature defense mechanisms was explained by emotional abuse,
maternal care and maternal control. The β coefficient indicated that the level of
immature defenses increases with the reported amount of experiences of emotional
Childhood Emotional Abuse and Psychopathology in Adulthood 11
abuse and controlling parenthood, and in reverse ratio to the experience of caring
motherhood. Conversly, the less the reported amount of emotional abuse and controlling
parenthood and the more caring the mother, the higher the level of self esteem.
The target variable was psychopathology symptomatology. Its explained variance was
high, standing at 52%. Only immature defenses and self esteem showed a direct effect
on psychopathology symptomatology, with the contribution of immature defenses
higher than that of self esteem. According to the path model, childhood emotional
abuse, perceptions of maternal care and control and of paternal control had an indirect
effect on psychopathology and was mediated by immature defenses and self esteem.
Insert Figure 1 about here
DISCUSSION
The results of our study, especially those of the Structure Equation Modeling (SEM)
analysis, portray a trajectory from emotional abuse in childhood, harshly controlling
parents and non-caring bonding behaviors to psychopathological symptoms in
adulthood explained by the immature defense organization and damaged self-esteem.
Our findings are consistent with clinical descriptions of developmental and personality
damage caused by parental emotional abuse (e.g., McCarthy, 1990) as well as with
empirical research describing psychopathological consequences in adulthood, especially
low self esteem (Gross & Keller, 1992; Loos & Alexander, 1997; Rich, et al, 1997).
Emotionally abused victims may adopt a negative self-image (Frankel, 2002) and may
believe that they are not good enough to warrant the parent’s attention (Loos &
Alexander, 1997) through introjecting the injurious parents’ criticism and insults.
Childhood Emotional Abuse and Psychopathology in Adulthood 12
High scores of parental care were significantly negatively correlated with parental
control (r=-.42). These findings might support those of Varia and Abidin (1996) that
identified a group of “minimizers” who minimized their parents' emotional abuse.
Burland (1994) and McCarthy (1990) suggested that in order to survive, the victims
deny and isolate themselves from the abusive relationships by splitting their parents'
images.
Studies show the predictive power of defenses for mental health; immature defenses
are linked to poor psychological adjustment and the presence of psychopathological
symptoms (Cramer & Block, 1998; Muris & Merckelbach, 1996; Watson, 2002).
Relying on immature defenses in adulthood may be an indication of psychological
difficulties at the age when these defenses were developmentally predominant (e.g.,
denial in early childhood). In an attempt to protect against excessive anxiety and
maintain self-esteem, the young child makes strong use of the defenses available at that
time. As a consequence of overuse, the defenses remain a prominent feature of the
individual's personality, continuing to function long past the developmentally
appropriate age (Cramer & Block, 1998). Massive and long-term overuse of these
immature defenses might be a risk factor in the development of personality disorders in
adulthood, particularly borderline personalities (Armelius & Granberg, 2000; Bond, et
al, 1994; Grilo & Masheb, 2002; Paris, 1997; Paris et al. 1996; Zweig-Frank & Paris,
1991; Zanarini et al., 1997). Bond, et al (1994), and Paris et al. (1996) support
Kernberg's (1976) view of immature defenses as one of the indicators of borderline
personality disorder by reporting that borderline personality disorder was linked with
more maladaptive and image distorting defenses (immature-primitive defenses) than
adaptive defenses.
Childhood Emotional Abuse and Psychopathology in Adulthood 13
The Structure Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis indicates that contrary to maternal
care, paternal care has a non-significant contribution to immature defenses and self-
esteem, suggesting that paternal care is less influential. This outcome may stem from
the fact that mothers are generally considered to be the more nurturing parent and
indeed often play more of a nurturing role than fathers (Varia & Abidin, 1999). These
results are consistent with those of Paris et al.(1996) who reported that only maternal
control was a risk factor in predicting immature defenses. Self esteem however, is
impacted by both parents. Thus controlling and domineering methods of parenthood by
either mothers or fathers can have a detrimental effect on the self-esteem. Similar results
were found by Loos and Alexander (1997), who reported that both maternal and
paternal verbal aggression and emotional neglect predict low self-esteem and loneliness
in adulthood.
Limitations
The study has several limitations that must be considered when interpreting the data.
The study was based on retrospective self-labeling of the subjects, as being emotionally
abused in childhood, without objective verification. The passage of time and distance
from childhood experiences may have blurred the reported abuse. Other personality
characterizations (like temperament), and present psychiatric diagnoses (like
depression) which may have contributed to the perceived childhood abuse were not
examined. Additionally, participants who have immature defense styles and certain
forms of psychopathology may have distorted memories of earlier experiences.
Moreover, participants who have maladaptive defense systems may engage in mutually
provocative interactions with parents, may perceive their childhood negatively and may
Childhood Emotional Abuse and Psychopathology in Adulthood 14
suffer from adult psychopathology. We should consider the possibility that some reports
of parental abuse were the product of other personality disturbances which distorted the
perceptions of parental behavior.
We included in the study subjects who reported exclusive emotional abuse (30.69%)
together with those who reported emotional abuse accompanied by other experiences of
abuse (69.31%) and we found statistically significant correlations between emotional
abuse and emotional neglect. These correlations may point to an adulteration of the
“pure” psychopathological impact of the experience of emotional abuse. Several
researches (e.g., Hamarman, & Bernet, 2000; Iwaniec, 1996) suggest that the difficulties
in segregating emotional abuse from other types of abuse, especially emotional neglect,
which Garbarino [1987) views as tangential to emotional abuse, is one reason for the
paucity of research into this type of abuse.
Yet another methodological limitation concerns the measurement of defense
mechanisms. Following Vaillant (1992), who grouped defense mechanisms according to
their degree of maturation, we confined our focus to immature defenses. By overlooking
the more mature mechanisms, we deprived ourselves of a comparison between the
immature and the more mature mechanisms and, implicitly, of a richer picture of the
participants’ use of defense mechanisms.
Conclusions
The contribution of this study is the empirical examination of widely held
psychodynamic notions that abusive methods of parenthood can have a detrimental
effect on the development of personality organization, particularly with regard to
defensive organization which manifests itself in psychopathology in adulthood.
Childhood Emotional Abuse and Psychopathology in Adulthood 15
The distribution of the reported childhood emotional abuse resembles the "normal
curve". This is a distressing finding since emotional abuse is difficult to quantify and
investigate and therefore often remains underreported, leaving most of the victims
unprotected and untreated (Hamarman, & Bernet, 2000; Gracia, 1995).
The retrospective nature of our study leads to confined conclusions. A retrospective
study from childhood and adolescence into adulthood in warranted in order to
strengthen our findings. Further studies are needed to identify profiles of defenses
resulting from emotional abuse combined with physical or sexual abuse or neglect.
Longitudinal studies could clarify whether the effect of emotional abuse is more
detrimental at a young age or during adolescence when the major developmental task is
to consolidate a firm sense of identity.
Childhood Emotional Abuse and Psychopathology in Adulthood 16
REFERENCES
Armelius K, Granberg A (2000) Self-image and perception of mother and father in psychotic
and borderline patients. Psychotherapy Res 10:147-158.
Bachar E, Canetti L, Galilee-Weisstub E, Kaplan-De-Nour A Shalev A Y (1998) Childhood
vs. adolescence transitional object attachment, and relation to mental health and parental
bonding. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 28:149-167.
Bernstein DP, Ahluvalia T, Pogge D, Handelsman L (1997) Validity of Childhood Trauma
Questionnaire in an adolescent psychiatric population J. Am. Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry
36:340-348.
Bernstein DP, Fink L, (1998) Childhood Trauma Questionnaire: A retrospective self-report,
Harcourt Brace & Co, San Antonio.
Bifulco A, Moran PM, Baines R, Bunn A, Stanford K (2002) Exploring psychological
abuse in childhood: II Association with other abuse and adult clinical depression Bull.
Menninger Clin. 66:241-258.
Bond MP (1986) Defense Style Questionnaire. In GE Vaillant (Ed). Empirical studies of ego
mechanisms of defense (pp 146-152). American Psychiatric Press, Washington, D.C.
Bond MP, Gardner S, Christian J, Sigal JJ (1983) Empirical study of self-rated defense styles.
Arch Gen Psychiatry 40:33-338.
Bond M, Paris J, Zweig-Frank H (1994) The Defense Style Questionnaire in borderline
personality disorder. J Pers Disord 8:28-31.
Bond MP, Perry JC, Gautier M (1989) Validating the self report defenses styles. J Personal
Disord 52:289-301.
Bond MP, Vaillant JS (1986) An empirical study of the relationship between diagnosis and
defense style. Arch Gen Psychiatry 43:285-288.
Burland JA (1994) Splitting as a consequence of severe abuse in childhood. Psychiatric Clin.
North America 17:731-742.
Childhood Emotional Abuse and Psychopathology in Adulthood 17
Canetti L, Shalev A Y, Kaplan De-Nour A (1994) Israeli adolescents' norms of the brief
symptom inventory. Isr. J. Psychiatry Relat. Sci. 3: 8-13.
Canetti L, Bachar E, Bonne O, Agid O, Lerer B, Kaplan De-Nour A, Shalev A Y (2000) The
impact of parental death versus separation from parents on the mental health of Israeli
adolescents. Comprehensive Psychiatry 41:360-368.
Corcoran KJ, Fischer J (1987) Measures for clinical practice. New York: Free Press.
Cramer P, Block J (1998) Preschool antecedents of defenses mechanism use in young adults:
a longitudinal study. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 74:159-169.
Derogatis LR, Melisaratos N (1983) The brief symptom inventory, An introductory report.
Psychol. Med. 13:595-605.
Derogatis LR, Spencer PM (1982) The brief symptom inventory: Administration, scoring
and procedures, Manual I. Chevy Chase, MD, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Doyle C (2001) Surviving and coping with emotional abuse in childhood. Clin. Child
Psychol. Psychiatry 6:387-402.
Ferguson KS, Dacey CM (1997) Anxiety, depression and dissociation in women health care
providers reporting a history of childhood psychological abuse. Child Abuse Negl. 21:941-952.
Fink LA, Bernstein D, Handelsman L, Foote J (1995) Initial reliability and validity of the
Childhood Trauma Interview: A new multidimensional measure of childhood interpersonal
trauma. Am. J. Psychiatry 152:1329-1335.
Frankel J (2002) Exploring Ferenczi’s concept of identification with the aggressor. Its role in
trauma, everyday life, and the therapeutic relationship. Psychoan. Dialogues 12: 101-139.
Garbarino J, Guttman E, Seeley JW (1987) The psychologically battered child. California:
Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Gibb BE, Wheeler R, Alloy LB, Abramson LY (2001) Emotional, physical and sexual
maltreatment in childhood vs. adolescent and personality dysfunction in young adulthood. J
Personal. Disord. 15:505-511.
Childhood Emotional Abuse and Psychopathology in Adulthood 18
Gracia E (1995) Visible but unreported: A case for the “not serious enough” cases of
child maltreatment. Child Abuse Negl. 19: 1083-1093.
Grilo CM, Masheb RM (2002) Childhood maltreatment and personality disorders in adult
patients with binge eating disorder. Acta Psychiatr. Scand.106:183-188.
Gross AB, Keller HR (1992) Long-term consequences of childhood physical and
psychological maltreatment. Aggress. Beh. 18:171-185.
Hamarman S, Bernet W (2000) Evaluating and reporting emotional abuse in children. J. Am.
Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry 39:928-930.
Hart SN, Brassard MR, Karlson H (1996) Psychological maltreatment. In J Briere, L
Berliner, JA Bulkley, C Jenny, T Reid (Eds), The APSAC handbook on child maltreatment. (pp
72-89). CA, Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Hauser ST, Safyer AW (1995) The contribution of ego psychology to developmental
psychopathology. In D Cicchetti, DJ Cohen (Eds), Developmental Psychopathology (pp 555-
580). New York: John Wiley.
Hersoug AG, Sexton HC, Hoglend P (2002). Contribution of defensive functioning to the
quality of working alliance and psychotherapy outcome. Am J Psychotherapy, 56: 539-554.
Iwaniec D (1996) The emotionally abused and neglected child. New York: John Wiley.
Loos ME, Alexander PC (1997) Differential effects associated with self report histories of
abuse and neglect in a college sample. J. Interpers. Violence 12:340-360.
Mazzeo SE, Espelage DL (2002) Association between childhood physical and emotional
abuse and disordered eating behaviors in female undergraduates: An investigation of the
mediating role of alexithymia and depression. J. Couns. Psychol. 49:86-100.
McCarthy JB (1990) Abusive Families and character formation. Am. J. Psychoanal. 50:181-
186.
Muris P, Merckelbach H (1996) The short version of the defense style questionnaire: factor
structure and psychopathological symptoms. Pers. Individ. Dif. 20:23-126.
Childhood Emotional Abuse and Psychopathology in Adulthood 19
Kernberg OF (1976) Borderline conditions and pathological narcissism. New York: Jason
Aronson.
Mrazek PJ, Mrazek DA (1987) Resilience in child maltreatment victims: A conceptual
exploration. Child Abuse Negl. 11:357-366.
Palmer SE, Brown RA, Rae-Grant NI; Loughlin MJ (2001) Survivors of childhood abuse:
their reported experiences with professional help. Soc. Work 46:136-145.
Paris J (1997) Childhood trauma as an etiological factor in personality disorder. J. Personal.
Disord. 11:34-49.
Paris J, Zweig-Frnk H, Bond M, Guzder J (1996) Defense styles, hostility, and psychological
risk factors in male patients with personality disorders. J. Nerv. Ment. Dis. 184:153-158.
Parker G. (1989). The parental bonding instrument: Psychometric properties reviewed.
Psychiat. Dev. 4: 317–335.
Parker G. (1990). The parental bonding instrument: A decade of research. Soc. Psychiat.
Psychiatric Epidemiology 25: 281–282.
Parker G. (1993). Parental rearing style: Examining for links with personality factor for
depression. Soc. Psychiat. Psychiatric Epidemiology 28: 97–100.
Parker G, Tupling H, Brown LB (1979) A parental bonding instrument. Br. J. Med. Psychol.
52:1-10.
Pearce JW, Pezzot-Pearce T (1997) Psychotherapy of Abused and Neglected Children. New
York: Guilford.
Portwood SG (1999) Coming to terms with a consensual definition of child maltreatment.
Child Maltreat. 4:56-68.
Rich DJ, Gingerich KJ, Rosen LA (1997) Childhood emotional abuse and associated
psychopathology in students. J College Student Psychotherapy 11:13-28.
Rosenberg M (1979) Conceiving the self. New York: Basic Books.
Childhood Emotional Abuse and Psychopathology in Adulthood 20
Scher CD, Stein MB, Asmundson GJG, McCreary DR, Forde DR (2001) The Childhood
Trauma Questionnaire in a community sample: Psychometric properties and normative data. J
Trauma Stress 14:843-857.
Simeon D, Guralnik O, Schmeidler J, Sirof B, Knutelska M (2001) The role of childhood
interpersonal trauma in depersonalization disorder. Am J Psychiatry 158:1027-1033.
Spertus IL, Yehuda R, Wong CM, Halligan S, Seremetis S (2003) Childhood emotional
abuse and neglect as predictors of psychological and physical symptoms in women presenting to
a primary care practice. Child Abuse Negl 27:1247-1258.
Thompson AE, Kaplan CA (1996) Childhood emotional abuse. Br J Psychiatry 168:143-
148.
Vaillant GE (1992) Ego mechanisms of defense: A guide for clinicians and researchers.
Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press.
Varia R, Abidin RR (1999) The minimizing style: perceptions of psychological abuse and
quality of past and current relationships. Child Abuse Negl 23:1041-1055.
Varia R, Abidin RR, Dass P (1996) Perceptions of abuse: Effects on adult psychological and
social adjustment. Child Abuse Negl 20:511¯526.
Watson DC (2002) Predicting psychiatric symptomatology with the defense style
questionnaire-40. Int J Stress Management 9:275-287.
Wilhelm K. & Parker G. (1990). Reliability of the Parental Bonding Instrument and Intimate
Bond Measure scales. Australian New Zealand J Psychiat. 24: 199–202.
Zanarini M, Williams AA, Lewis RE, Reich BR, Vera SC, Marino MF, Levin A, Young L,
Frankenburg FR (1997) Reported pathological childhood experiences associated with the
development of borderline personality disorder. Am J Psychiatry 154:1101-1106.
Zweig-Frank H, Paris J (1991) Parents’ emotional neglect and overprotection according to
recollections of patients with borderline personality disorder. Am J Psychiatry 148:648-651.
Childhood Emotional Abuse and Psychopathology in Adulthood 21
Table 1: Means and sd of the CTQ, PBI, DSQ, RSE and BSI questionnaires
M sd Other studies
Emotional abuse 15.1 6.9 10.61
Maternal care 34.4 5.9 30.12
Maternal control 18.20 5.2 10.52
Paternal care 31.5 7.5 27.72
Paternal control 16.8 5.7 8.22
Immature defense
mechanisms
3.22 .96 *
Self esteem 33.0 5.5 32.43
Psychopathological
symptomatology
(GSI)
1.86 .60 .754
.835
1Bernstein & Fink, 1998 (among college undergraduates). 2Canetti et al., 2000 (intact families) 3Gross & Keller, 1992 4Canetti et al., 1994 5Derogatis & Spencer, 1982 * The immature defense scale was derived from the DSQ items according to Vaillant’s (1992) categories of defenses by maturity levels.
Childhood Emotional Abuse and Psychopathology in Adulthood 22
Table 2: Pearson’s correlations between the research variables
Emotional
abuse
Maternal
care
Maternal
control
Paternal
care
Paternal
control
Emotional abuse 1.000 -.60*** .29*** -.54*** .54***
Immature defense
mechanisms
.47*** -.40*** .32*** -.27*** .28***
Self esteem -.44*** .42*** -.34*** .30*** -.33***
Psychopathological
symptomatology
.48*** -.35*** .38*** -.30*** .40***
p<.001***
Figure 1: Path model for predicting psychopathological symptomatology
PsychopathologicalSymptomatology
Emotional abuse
Maternal control
Maternal care
Paternal control
R2=.52***Immature defensemechanisms
Self esteem
R2=.30***
R2=.29*
.39***
-.32***
.54***
-.27***
.14*
-.13*
-.16*
.20*
-.13*
-.52***
.30
-.57***
. 51***
.37*** -.42***
*p<.05 **p<.01 ***p<.001
-.22**