The present study represents the first empirical investigation of the mechanisms–a Hostile-Helpless (HH) attachment and reflective functioning (RF)–through which childhood abuse and neglect (CA&N) experiences may impact a mother’s likelihood to commit filicide. The sample was comprised of 46 mentally ill mothers. Differences in attachment-derived risk variables between filicidal mothers (FM) and non-filicidal mothers (NFM) were also examined. FM (n = 23) reported lower RF, higher HH attachment, and a more severe history of CA&N, compared to NFM (n = 23), but did not differ on the severity of childhood experiences of loss of and/or separation from attachment figures. Bayesian analysis indicated that the mediated effect of more severe CA&N on the likelihood of committing filicide through higher HH attachment was significantly amplified by lower RF. A developmental interpretation of filicide is proposed and clinical implications for prevention and attachment-based interventions with at-risk mother–child dyads are discussed.

Childhood abuse and neglect experiences, Hostile-Helpless attachment, and reflective functioning in mentally ill filicidal mothers

Lavinia Barone
Writing – Review & Editing
;
Nicola Carone
Writing – Original Draft Preparation
2021-01-01

Abstract

The present study represents the first empirical investigation of the mechanisms–a Hostile-Helpless (HH) attachment and reflective functioning (RF)–through which childhood abuse and neglect (CA&N) experiences may impact a mother’s likelihood to commit filicide. The sample was comprised of 46 mentally ill mothers. Differences in attachment-derived risk variables between filicidal mothers (FM) and non-filicidal mothers (NFM) were also examined. FM (n = 23) reported lower RF, higher HH attachment, and a more severe history of CA&N, compared to NFM (n = 23), but did not differ on the severity of childhood experiences of loss of and/or separation from attachment figures. Bayesian analysis indicated that the mediated effect of more severe CA&N on the likelihood of committing filicide through higher HH attachment was significantly amplified by lower RF. A developmental interpretation of filicide is proposed and clinical implications for prevention and attachment-based interventions with at-risk mother–child dyads are discussed.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11571/1342780
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