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Parental verbal abuse and the mediating role of self-criticism in adult internalizing disorders
Sachs-Ericsson, Natalie Verona, Edelyn Joiner, Thomas Preacher, Kristopher J.
Sachs-Ericsson, Natalie
Verona, Edelyn
Joiner, Thomas
Preacher, Kristopher J.
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Abstract
Background: Researchers (e.g., [Gibb, B.E., 2002. Childhood maltreatment and negative cognitive styles. A quantitative and
qualitative review. Clinical Psychology Review, 22 (2), 223–246]; [Rose, D.T., Abramson, L.Y., 1992. Developmental predictors of depressive cognitive styles: developmental perspectives on depression. In Cicchetti, D., Toth, S.L. (Eds.), Developmental Perspectives on Depression. Rochester symposium on developmental psychopathology, vol. 4, pp. 323–349]) have proposed that when childhood abuse is verbal (rather than sexual or physical), the child is more likely to develop a negative self-schema because the negative self-cognitions are directly supplied to the child by the abuser (e.g., "you are stupid").
Methods: In a test of this theory in adult participants, and drawing on the National Comorbidity Survey (NCS) (N=5877), we investigate the mediating role of current levels of self-criticism on the relationship between retrospective reports of parental verbal
abuse, as well as sexual and physical abuse, and adult internalizing symptoms.
Results: We found self-criticism, but not dependency traits, to fully mediate the relationship between childhood verbal abuse
perpetrated by parents and internalizing (depression, anxiety) symptoms. On the other hand, self-criticism was only a partial
mediator of the relationship between the other types of abuse and internalizing symptoms.
Limitations: The NCS data is cross-sectional, which limits any firm conclusions regarding causality. While these results are
suggestive that self-criticism is a mediator of the relationship between abuse and internalizing symptoms, longitudinal data are
necessary to help rule out alternative explanations.
Conclusions: Results of this study suggest that childhood abuse experiences, and in particular verbal abuse, may confer risk for
internalizing disorders in part because verbal abuse influences the development of a self-critical style.
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Date
2006
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Keywords
Parental verbal, Sexual and physical abuse, Self-criticism, Internalizing symptoms
Citation
Journal of Affective Disorders, 93, 71-78