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Understanding the “ghosts in the nursery” of pregnant women experiencing domestic violence: Prenatal maternal representations and histories of childhood maltreatment
Author(s) -
Malone Johanna C.,
Levendosky Alytia A.,
Dayton Carolyn Joy,
Bogat G. Anne
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
infant mental health journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.693
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 1097-0355
pISSN - 0163-9641
DOI - 10.1002/imhj.20264
Subject(s) - neglect , developmental psychology , psychology , pregnancy , domestic violence , psychological intervention , mental health , physical abuse , sexual abuse , child abuse , early childhood , poison control , suicide prevention , psychiatry , medicine , environmental health , genetics , biology
Selma Fraiberg and colleagues (1975) conceptualized the “ghosts in the nursery” as experiences from a mother's past that influenced her ability to form a warm and attuned relationship with her child. Contemporary infant mental health interventions often ask the mother to reflect on her own history of attachment relationships to gain insight into as well as to strengthen her developing relationship with her child. This study investigated the association between a mother's history of childhood maltreatment (CM) and her subsequent prenatal maternal representation during the third trimester of pregnancy. Controlling for domestic violence (DV), distorted prenatal representations were associated with higher rates of self‐reported childhood physical neglect. In addition, DV moderated the relationship between representations and CM, such that women who were exposed to DV during pregnancy and had distorted prenatal representations were least likely to report childhood physical and sexual abuse. Implications are discussed in relation to infant mental health interventions which rely on a parent's ability to psychologically access and reflect on childhood histories to more sensitively parent her own child.