Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Date of Degree

9-2025

Document Type

Doctoral Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Program

Psychology

Advisor

Cathy Spatz Widom

Committee Members

William Gottdiener

Peggilee Wupperman

Jackson Goodnight

Rebecca Spizzirri

Subject Categories

Clinical Psychology | Developmental Psychology

Keywords

child neglect, intergenerational continuity, psychiatric symptoms, official report, self-report, female, male

Abstract

Parental history of childhood neglect is a risk factor for offspring neglect. When a parent and their offspring both experience neglect in childhood, the phenomenon is referred to as the intergenerational continuity of child neglect. Understanding how child neglect is continued from one generation to the next is essential for creating effective interventions and prevention strategies that may help break the cycle. Since links between childhood neglect and heightened risk for various psychiatric symptoms have consistently been identified in research, as well as links between various psychiatric symptoms and heightened risk for child neglect, it may be that parents’ psychiatric symptoms partially explain intergenerational continuity of child neglect. The current study used data from an ongoing prospective cohort design study to examine whether (1) psychiatric symptoms associated with internalizing disorders (major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder) and externalizing disorders (antisocial personality disorder, alcohol use disorder, and substance use disorders) partially mediate the continuity of child neglect across generations, (2) different mediational patterns would be observed for officially reported and self-reported offspring neglect, and (3) there were sex-specific differences in these associations. Data came from parents/caregivers (n = 1063) and their offspring (n = 621). Information about parents’ childhood neglect was from substantiated court records spanning the years 1967 through 1971. Information about parents’ psychiatric symptoms was from in-person interviews during 1989-1995. Information about offspring’s childhood neglect was from self-reports in interviews during 2009-2010 and child protective service record reviews during 2011-2013. The results showed that parents’ internalizing symptoms partially mediated the relationship between parent and offspring neglect when offspring neglect was operationalized by official reports, but not self-reports. Parents’ externalizing symptoms partially mediated the continuity of intergenerational neglect across both types of outcome measures. Subgroup analyses showed sex-specific patterns of mediation. For female parents, internalizing symptoms mediated the intergenerational neglect association when offspring neglect was officially reported, but not when it was self-reported. For male parents, internalizing symptoms did not mediate the association for either offspring outcome. Externalizing symptoms partially mediated the association for female parents when offspring neglect was self-reported, but not when officially reported, and for male parents when offspring neglect was officially reported, but not when self-reported. Overall, the findings of this study highlight the complexity of intergenerational neglect and the necessity to consider both the parent’s sex and type of reporting method when examining the influence of psychiatric symptoms on the continuity of neglect across generations. The potential clinical implications of the results are explored, limitations of the study are acknowledged, and directions for future research are recommended.

Download

This work is embargoed and will be available for download on Saturday, March 14, 2026

Share

COinS