Childhood maltreatment in maternal helpless caregiving: the mediating role of defensive functioning

The present cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study examined the associations between various childhood maltreatment experiences and maternal helpless caregiving (i.e., a state experienced by caregivers who feel overwhelmed and unable to manage both their child’s behavior and their own emotional responses to it), also focusing on the mediating role of defensive functioning in this relationship. Participants included 348 cisgender, heterosexual partnered mothers (M = 38.44, SD = 6.04), mostly White, all living in Italy with children aged 3–11 (M = 6.50, SD = 2.53; 47.13% assigned female at birth). All participants identified as the primary caregivers for their children. Mediation analysis indicated that emotional abuse, sexual abuse, emotional neglect, and physical neglect had a significant direct effect on maternal helplessness. However, physical abuse did not show a direct association with helpless caregiving. Furthermore, the indirect association between childhood emotional abuse and maternal helpless caregiving through overall defensive functioning was significant. Specifically, mothers who reported greater emotional abuse in their childhood showed less mature defensive functioning, which in turn was associated with higher levels of maternal helplessness. The findings underscore the profound effects of childhood maltreatment, particularly emotional abuse, on maternal helpless caregiving. These insights contribute to understanding the complex interplay between past traumas and current caregiving capacities, offering directions for interventions to prevent and treat maternal helplessness by focusing on developing more adaptive defensive functioning.