Parental verbal abuse and the mediating role of self-criticism in adult internalizing disorders
Issue Date
2006Author
Sachs-Ericsson, Natalie
Verona, Edelyn
Joiner, Thomas
Preacher, Kristopher J.
Type
Article
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
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.
Collections
Citation
Journal of Affective Disorders, 93, 71-78
Items in KU ScholarWorks are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.
We want to hear from you! Please share your stories about how Open Access to this item benefits YOU.