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Maternal Personality and Distress as Predictors of Child Neglect

https://doi.org/10.1006/jrpe.2001.2330Get rights and content

Abstract

Previous studies suggest that maternal personality problems predict child neglect. However, these studies have not distinguished between the common and unique contributions of various maternal personality dimensions, nor have they compared the contribution of maternal personality with maternal emotional distress. The current study addresses these issues using data collected by James Gaudin and distributed by the National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect at Cornell University. Information was extracted on 94 neglectful and 101 comparison mothers. Logistic regression analyses revealed that a composite score reflecting maternal empathic capacity inversely predicted child neglect, whereas maternal depressive symptoms and loneliness did not. Results are discussed in terms of the importance of distinguishing between common and unique contributions of maternal personality dimensions to clinical and social outcomes and in terms of the relative contribution of maternal personality and emotional distress to child neglect.

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    The data used in this study were made available by the National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect (NDACAN) at Cornell University. Data from the Family Structure and Functioning in Neglectful Families study were originally collected by James Gaudin. Funding support for preparing the data for public distribution was provided by a contract (90-CA-1496) between the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect and Cornell University. Neither the collector of the original data, the funding agency, nor the NDACAN bears any responsibility for the analyses or interpretations presented here. The author thanks Sidney J. Blatt and Avi Besser for their helpful comments on earlier drafts of this article.

    Address correspondence and reprint requests to Golan Shahar, Department of Psychiatry, Yale University, 25 Park St., New Haven, CT 06519. E-mail: [email protected].

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