Longitudinal Relations Between Childhood Maltreatment, Maltreatment-Specific Shame, and Postpartum Psychopathology

Creator(s)

Rena A. Menke, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Diana Morelen, East Tennessee State UniversityFollow
Valerie A. Simon, Wayne State University
Katherine L. Rosenblum, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Maria Muzik, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2-1-2018

Description

The persistence of shame-based reactions to child maltreatment (CM) has been associated with poor posttraumatic adjustment. Despite evidence that the postpartum period is a vulnerable time for women with CM histories, little is known about the consequences of maltreatment-specific (MS) shame for postpartum functioning. The current study examined individual differences in MS shame among a sample of women during the postpartum period (n = 100) as well as prospective relations from MS shame to postpartum psychopathology at 6-, 12-, 15-, and 18-month postpartum. Linear growth curve (LGC) analyses showed that MS shame predicted higher levels of depression symptoms but not post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms at all time points whereas path analyses showed that shame mediated the relations from multi-maltreatment to both depression and PTSD symptoms at all time points. Results point to the long-term consequences of MS shame during postpartum and the importance of attending to shame in clinical care of maltreatment survivors who present with postpartum psychopathology.

Citation Information

Menke, Rena A.; Morelen, Diana; Simon, Valerie A.; Rosenblum, Katherine L.; and Muzik, Maria. 2018. Longitudinal Relations Between Childhood Maltreatment, Maltreatment-Specific Shame, and Postpartum Psychopathology. Child Maltreatment. Vol.23(1). 44-53. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077559517720070 PMID: 28705086 ISSN: 1077-5595