History of childhood abuse is accompanied by increased dissociation in young mothers five months postnatally.
BACKGROUND
Dissociation has been recognized as a relevant factor within the context of traumatization. Since childhood maltreatment as well as child birth can be regarded as a potential trauma, this study examined dissociation in a sample of 58 young mothers with a history of abuse in comparison to a control group.


METHODS
All women with newborn children were contacted by mail and presented with the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire. Women who reached a cutoff for moderate or severe sexual and/or physical abuse and whose children were term babies with Apgar scores >7 were included in the study to form the index group (n = 58); the control group was formed by matching mothers with no reported experiences of physical and/or sexual abuse (n = 61). Dissociative experiences were assessed by the Scale of Dissociative Experiences (German version of the Dissociative Experiences Scale).


RESULTS
The results show that mothers with a history of physical or sexual abuse - matched for infant gender, maternal education, marital status, number of infants and birth weight - had significantly more dissociative experiences.


CONCLUSIONS
Maternal history of abuse significantly increases maternal dissociative experiences, which has frequently been postulated but never empirically shown in a prospective design in a sample of young mothers. As maternal psychopathology has been found to have a profound impact on child development, specifically in the first year of life, these data are of immediate relevance for preventive efforts when targeting at-risk mother-infant dyads.
Marysko
Melanie
M
Departments of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
Reck
Corinna
C
Mattheis
Volker
V
Finke
Patricia
P
Resch
Franz
F
Moehler
Eva
E
D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D002650:Child Abuse, Sexual / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D004213:Dissociative Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009769:Object Attachment; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011594:Psychometrics; D011644:Puerperal Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D012307:Risk Factors