1. Objectifs

Intentions :
«The purpose of this study is to examine the contribution of a newly developed classification of adult disorganized states of mind, namely the Hostile-Helpless state of mind (HH; Lyons-Ruth, Yellin, Melnick, & Atwood, 2005), to further investigate disorganized states of mind among neglectful parents.» (p. 1352)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
«Seventy mothers participated in this study. They were recruited over a 10-year period through child protection agencies and social services to participate in a longitudinal study on physically neglecting families.» (p. 1353)

Instruments :
- Adult Attachment Interview
- Childhood Trauma Questionnaire

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse statistique

3. Résumé

«Forty-five mothers out of 70 (64%) were classified Hostile/Helpless, revealing a high prevalence of disorganized states of mind in this sample. […] Results also revealed that most mothers in our sample experienced at least one form of childhood trauma. […] Moreover, our results revealed a significant association between the HH classification and childhood experiences of emotional abuse, sexual abuse, and physical neglect and a strong correlation between the number of different types of maltreatment experienced by mothers and overall Disorganization scores. […] These findings provide further empirical evidence supporting the validity of the HH classification system with at-risk samples. Finally, the fact that neglecting mothers and at risk of neglecting mothers did not significantly differ on either HH state of mind or childhood experiences of maltreatment suggests that the at-risk mothers in our sample may also be a very high-risk group. However, it is also possible that at-risk of neglecting mothers differ from neglecting mothers on other variables not assessed in our study, such as psychological and ecological protective factors.» (p. 1355-1356)