RESUMEN
OBJECTIVE: To examine relations between maternal depression (in pure and comorbid forms) and mother-infant interactions, infant attachment, and toddler social-emotional problems and competencies. A second objective was to explore sex differences. METHOD: Sixty-nine mother-infant dyads were followed from pregnancy to 30 months postpartum. Depression was measured at multiple times with self-report and interview assessments. Play was assessed at 4 months and attachment status at 14 months postpartum. At 30 months, mothers completed the Child Behavior Checklist and Infant-Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment. RESULTS: Lifetime maternal depression predicted less optimal mother-infant interactions and insecure infant attachment. However, this "depression effect" was accounted for by mothers with comorbid diagnoses, who had less optimal interactions, and infants with higher rates of insecurity than either mothers with depression only or mothers with no psychopathology. Prenatal and postpartum depressive symptoms were associated with problem behaviors and lower competencies for boys. In contrast, quality of early interactions predicted problem behaviors in girls. CONCLUSIONS: It is important to examine the context of maternal depression with respect to additional psychopathology and environmental risks. Maternal depression in the presence of other psychopathology confers risk to the mother-child dyad. Consistent with previous work, risk pathways appear to differ for boys and girls. Early identification and prevention efforts are warranted.
Asunto(s)
Trastorno Depresivo/psicología , Conducta del Lactante/psicología , Relaciones Madre-Hijo , Autoimagen , Trastorno de la Conducta Social , Adulto , Síntomas Afectivos , Preescolar , Comorbilidad , Femenino , Predicción , Humanos , Lactante , Masculino , Responsabilidad Parental , Apoyo SocialRESUMEN
The major finding in this study of 41 serial rapists is the large numbers of reported and unreported victims. For over 1200 attempted and completed rapes, there were 200 convictions. The hidden rapes or earliest nonreported victims of these men as boys and adolescents were identified from their families, their neighborhood, and their schools. Examining the possible link between childhood sexual abuse and criminal behavior in this sample of 41 serial rapists, 56.1% were judged to have at least one forced or exploitive abuse experience in boyhood, as compared to a study of 2,972 college males reporting 7.3% experiencing boyhood sexual abuse. Looking within the abused samples, 56.1% of the rapists reported forced sex, compared to the college sample's 30.4%. Also, the rapist sample revealed higher rates of family member as abuser (48.4%), compared to 22.2% for the college sample. Retrospective reconstruction of the sexual activities and assertive behaviors of these men as boys reveals that 51% of the boys reenact the abuse as a preadolescent with their earliest victims being known to them (48% as neighborhood girls), family (25% as sisters), or girlfriend (25%). The onset of rape fantasies in midadolescence (mean age 16.9) crystalizes the earlier sexually initiated behaviors into juvenile behaviors of spying, fetish burglaries, molestations, and rapes. Repetition of these juvenile behaviors set their criminal patters on strangers--their next group of victims. To reduce victimization, serial rapists need to be identified early and stopped. This means acknowledging and reporting boy sexual abuse. This includes being sensitive to the reenactment behaviors noted in the initiated activities of abused children, which in turn need to be differentiated from peer play. Closer attention needs to be paid to families with incest behavior to insure that younger children are protected. Adolescents showing early repetitive juvenile delinquent behaviors must be assessed for physical and sexual abuse, and intervention must be planned to deal with the victimization. In the investigation and apprehension of serial rapists, law enforcement might pay closer attention to fetish burglaries and the spying, secretive behaviors that serve as the prototype for rape behavior.