NCJ Number
212015
Journal
Child Maltreatment Volume: 10 Issue: 4 Dated: November 2005 Pages: 324-336
Date Published
November 2005
Length
13 pages
Annotation
This study explored how child maltreatment and different forms of parenting influenced levels of shame and guilt in adolescents.
Abstract
A variety of deleterious mental health outcomes have been associated with childhood maltreatment. Despite the plethora of research, relatively little attention has been paid to the possible psychological mechanisms linking maltreatment to different adolescent behavioral outcomes following maltreatment. The current study investigated the hypothesis that maltreatment in different forms during childhood directly increases shame-proneness in adolescence, which then influences behavioral outcomes during late adolescence. The 8-year longitudinal study was designed to examine the effects of marital violence on children’s mental health and it drew interview data at 3 different points from an original sample of 363 mother and child dyads. Data included measures of marital violence, harsh parenting, sexual abuse, child conduct disorder and depression, parental rejection, parental warmth, shame and guilt in adolescents, depression during adolescence, and self-reported and officially recorded delinquency in adolescents. Results of statistical analyses indicated that harsh parenting during childhood was related to higher levels of shame during adolescence. Parental rejection was related to higher levels of shame and higher levels of guilt in adolescence. Finally, high levels of shame were associated with higher levels of depression when assessed 2 years later and high levels of guilt were associated with lower levels of delinquency. The findings underscore the possible importance of targeting the emotions of shame and guilt in treatment and prevention programs designed to reduce adolescent depression and delinquency. Figures, tables, notes, references