The effect of maternal childhood maltreatment on postpartum mother–child bonding and maternal hair glucocorticoids
ABSTRACTBackground: Maternal experiences of childhood maltreatment (CM) constitute a risk factor for impairments in the mother–child relationship. One mechanism underlying this intergenerational transmission may be maternal hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis dysregulation. Yet, few studies have exa...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Taylor & Francis Group
2024-12-01
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| Series: | European Journal of Psychotraumatology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/20008066.2024.2317674 |
| _version_ | 1827330707575275520 |
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| author | Luisa Bergunde Marlene Karl Miriam Borrmeister Isabel Jaramillo Victoria Weise Judith T. Mack Kerstin Weidner Wei Gao Susann Steudte-Schmiedgen Susan Garthus-Niegel |
| author_facet | Luisa Bergunde Marlene Karl Miriam Borrmeister Isabel Jaramillo Victoria Weise Judith T. Mack Kerstin Weidner Wei Gao Susann Steudte-Schmiedgen Susan Garthus-Niegel |
| author_sort | Luisa Bergunde |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | ABSTRACTBackground: Maternal experiences of childhood maltreatment (CM) constitute a risk factor for impairments in the mother–child relationship. One mechanism underlying this intergenerational transmission may be maternal hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis dysregulation. Yet, few studies have examined different maltreatment subtypes, including emotional neglect, considered concurrent depressive symptoms, and used long-term integrated glucocorticoid measures.Objective: This study aimed to investigate associations between maternal CM history, postpartum glucocorticoids in hair, and mother–child bonding. In exploratory analyses, we tested whether specific subtypes of CM had differential implications for glucocorticoid secretion and bonding.Methods: During pregnancy, N = 269 mothers from the prospective cohort study DREAMHAIR provided retrospective information on CM and current information regarding psychological and hair-related variables. Hair samples were collected 8 weeks after delivery for quantification of maternal long-term hair cortisol and cortisone concentrations in 2-cm scalp-near hair samples. Mother–child bonding was measured 8 weeks and 14 months after birth using the Postpartum Bonding Questionnaire.Results: While bivariate correlations revealed significant associations of CM with bonding and hair cortisol, regression findings showed CM was associated with impaired bonding 8 weeks (overall CM trend-level; emotional neglect p = .038) and 14 months (emotional neglect trend level p = .041) after birth, however not after controlling for depressive symptoms at the time point of the outcome. In regression analyses, CM was not associated with maternal hair glucocorticoids 8 weeks postpartum. Maternal hair glucocorticoid concentrations were not related to mother–child bonding and did not mediate associations between CM and mother–child bonding.Conclusion: Data tentatively suggest that mothers with CM experiences, in particular emotional neglect, may be at risk for suboptimal bonding to their child, however current depressive symptoms seem to be more important. Our data provide no evidence for a crucial role of glucocorticoid secretion, yet aetiological processes of long-term glucocorticoid secretion and bonding are complex and more severely affected samples should be examined. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T16:18:21Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f1774362c72443a5881f879100bb47e1 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2000-8066 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T16:18:21Z |
| publishDate | 2024-12-01 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | European Journal of Psychotraumatology |
| spelling | doaj.art-f1774362c72443a5881f879100bb47e12024-03-04T09:20:34ZengTaylor & Francis GroupEuropean Journal of Psychotraumatology2000-80662024-12-0115110.1080/20008066.2024.2317674The effect of maternal childhood maltreatment on postpartum mother–child bonding and maternal hair glucocorticoidsLuisa Bergunde0Marlene Karl1Miriam Borrmeister2Isabel Jaramillo3Victoria Weise4Judith T. Mack5Kerstin Weidner6Wei Gao7Susann Steudte-Schmiedgen8Susan Garthus-Niegel9Institute and Policlinic of Occupational and Social Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, GermanyInstitute and Policlinic of Occupational and Social Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, GermanyInstitute and Policlinic of Occupational and Social Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, GermanyInstitute and Policlinic of Occupational and Social Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, GermanyInstitute and Policlinic of Occupational and Social Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, GermanyInstitute and Policlinic of Occupational and Social Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, GermanyDepartment of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatic Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, GermanySchool of Psychology, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, People’s Republic of ChinaDepartment of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatic Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, GermanyInstitute and Policlinic of Occupational and Social Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, GermanyABSTRACTBackground: Maternal experiences of childhood maltreatment (CM) constitute a risk factor for impairments in the mother–child relationship. One mechanism underlying this intergenerational transmission may be maternal hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis dysregulation. Yet, few studies have examined different maltreatment subtypes, including emotional neglect, considered concurrent depressive symptoms, and used long-term integrated glucocorticoid measures.Objective: This study aimed to investigate associations between maternal CM history, postpartum glucocorticoids in hair, and mother–child bonding. In exploratory analyses, we tested whether specific subtypes of CM had differential implications for glucocorticoid secretion and bonding.Methods: During pregnancy, N = 269 mothers from the prospective cohort study DREAMHAIR provided retrospective information on CM and current information regarding psychological and hair-related variables. Hair samples were collected 8 weeks after delivery for quantification of maternal long-term hair cortisol and cortisone concentrations in 2-cm scalp-near hair samples. Mother–child bonding was measured 8 weeks and 14 months after birth using the Postpartum Bonding Questionnaire.Results: While bivariate correlations revealed significant associations of CM with bonding and hair cortisol, regression findings showed CM was associated with impaired bonding 8 weeks (overall CM trend-level; emotional neglect p = .038) and 14 months (emotional neglect trend level p = .041) after birth, however not after controlling for depressive symptoms at the time point of the outcome. In regression analyses, CM was not associated with maternal hair glucocorticoids 8 weeks postpartum. Maternal hair glucocorticoid concentrations were not related to mother–child bonding and did not mediate associations between CM and mother–child bonding.Conclusion: Data tentatively suggest that mothers with CM experiences, in particular emotional neglect, may be at risk for suboptimal bonding to their child, however current depressive symptoms seem to be more important. Our data provide no evidence for a crucial role of glucocorticoid secretion, yet aetiological processes of long-term glucocorticoid secretion and bonding are complex and more severely affected samples should be examined.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/20008066.2024.2317674Child maltreatmentchildhood traumaemotional neglectDREAM studyhair cortisolmother–child bonding |
| spellingShingle | Luisa Bergunde Marlene Karl Miriam Borrmeister Isabel Jaramillo Victoria Weise Judith T. Mack Kerstin Weidner Wei Gao Susann Steudte-Schmiedgen Susan Garthus-Niegel The effect of maternal childhood maltreatment on postpartum mother–child bonding and maternal hair glucocorticoids European Journal of Psychotraumatology Child maltreatment childhood trauma emotional neglect DREAM study hair cortisol mother–child bonding |
| title | The effect of maternal childhood maltreatment on postpartum mother–child bonding and maternal hair glucocorticoids |
| title_full | The effect of maternal childhood maltreatment on postpartum mother–child bonding and maternal hair glucocorticoids |
| title_fullStr | The effect of maternal childhood maltreatment on postpartum mother–child bonding and maternal hair glucocorticoids |
| title_full_unstemmed | The effect of maternal childhood maltreatment on postpartum mother–child bonding and maternal hair glucocorticoids |
| title_short | The effect of maternal childhood maltreatment on postpartum mother–child bonding and maternal hair glucocorticoids |
| title_sort | effect of maternal childhood maltreatment on postpartum mother child bonding and maternal hair glucocorticoids |
| topic | Child maltreatment childhood trauma emotional neglect DREAM study hair cortisol mother–child bonding |
| url | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/20008066.2024.2317674 |
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