Timeline of Intergenerational Child Maltreatment: the Mind–Brain–Body Interplay

Abstract

Purpose of Review: Still obscure mechanisms of intergenerational child maltreatment (ITCM) have been investigated partially, from various psychological and biological perspectives and from various time perspectives. This review is aimed at integrating the findings on different temporal ITCM pathways, emphasizing the mind–brain–body interplay. Recent Findings: Psychological mediators of ITCM involve attachment, mentalization, dissociation, social information processing, personality traits, and psychiatric disorders. Neurobiological findings mostly refer to the neural correlates of caregiving and attachment behaviors, affected by several physiological systems (stress-response, immune, oxytocin), which also affect physical health. The latest research clusters around the epigenetic pathways of ITCM, suggesting the additional, prenatal, and preconception forms of transmission. Summary: Data suggest that ITCM needs to be conceptualized as a longitudinal process, with various interrelated psychological, neurodevelopmental, and somatic paths. Future research and prevention should take into account both, each path and each phase of ITCM, in an integrative way. © 2017, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.