Intergenerational Transmission of Relational Styles: Current Considerations

The Role of Alexithymia and Impulsivity in Male Victims and Perpetrators of Intimate Partner Violence

(1) Background: Alexithymia and impulsivity appear to represent risk factors for violence perpetration, while mixed results are present with respect to victimization experience. In light of this, the purpose of this study was to compare the roles of both alexithymia and impulsivity among three different samples of men: men who experienced partner victimization (IPVV); male intimate partner violence perpetrators (IPVP); and men from the general population (CG). (2) Methods: Participants were recruited from specialized centers in Italy. A profile analysis was conducted. (3) Results: The results showed that IPVV presented alexithymia and impulsivity comparable to the CG. Furthermore, differences were found between victims and perpetrators in terms of impulsivity and alexithymia. The IPVP group had higher levels of both impulsivity and alexithymia in comparison to IPVV. Moreover, the perpetrators exhibited significantly higher levels of alexithymia compared to the CG. However, despite the medium Cohen's d (d = 0.441) resulting from the analyses, IPVP's level of impulsivity was not statistically different from the CG. (4) Conclusion: Alexithymia and impulsivity appear to play a key role in violent behaviors and should be the focus of psychological interventions with perpetrators.

The relationship between maternal-fetus attachment and perceived parental bonds in pregnant women: Considering a possible mediating role of psychological distress

Maternal-Fetal Attachment (MFA) delineates the emotional, cognitive, and behavioral aspects that mothers develop toward the unborn baby during pregnancy. The literature indicates that optimal attachment in pregnancy represents a protective factor for the mother-child attachment bond after birth and child development outcomes. To date, there are few studies that have investigated associated factors of MFA. This study sets out to explore the association between perceived parental bonds and maternal-fetal bonding in pregnant women, accounting for factors such as psychological distress, socio-demographic and obstetric characteristics.

Methods

In this cross-sectional study, 1,177 pregnant women answered the Parental Bonding Instrument, the Maternal-Fetal Attachment Scale, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-Y), and Beck-Depression Inventory (BDI-II).

Results

We found out that perceived maternal and paternal care had significant direct effects on maternal-infant bonding during the pregnancy period when controlling for some confounders, including gestational age and mother age among others. Such maternal and paternal perceived care effects were not mediated by levels of psychological distress, which in turn resulted to be a "borderline" significant predictor of prenatal attachment. Interestingly, the gestational age and the mother age emerged to have a significant and synergic nonlinear effect, suggesting the influence on the MFAS of the gestational age depends on the values of the mother age, and likewise, the effect of mother age on MFAS depends on the gestational week.

Conclusion

This study expands our knowledge of the intergenerational transmission of attachment pointing out the effects of a woman's perceived bond in relation to her parental figures during the development of the prenatal attachment process. Findings also suggests that parenting support interventions may have benefits that are realized across generations.

Maintaining Factors of Anorexia Nervosa Addressed from a Psychotherapeutic Group for Parents: Supplementary Report of a Patient's Therapeutic Success

(1) Background: Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder (ED) where up to 30% of individuals remain unresponsive to treatments, whether they partially respond, or do respond and later relapse. It has been broadly reported how presenting maladaptive family functioning and communication style contributes to treatment drop-out, poor treatment compliance, and poor long-term outcomes. We studied the mother and father of a patient with AN, binge-purge subtype (according to DSM-IV TR) who achieved remission after her parents but not her attended an intervention through a psychotherapy group for parents (PGP). (2) Methods: We previously reported this patient's case report, and now, through an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) approach, we aimed to explore the understanding and meanings ascribed by the mother and father to their experience at the PGP and to their daughter's clinical and functional improvement. (3) Results: We identified two main stages along the process: one related to the presence of maintaining factors of their daughter's disorder, and the other related to the emergence of a reflective function and to the implementation of behavioral, emotional and cognitive changes. (4) Conclusions: The interview revealed both parents' experience at the PGP promoted a change process, where they were able to modify their previous style of communication and functioning, and to identify them as a contributors to maintain their daughter's disorder. Reflective function (RF) emerged in the mother and father throughout the psychotherapeutic process. Both parents also revealed some elements that were intergenerationally transmitted, that affected three generations and contributed to maintaining the ED. We observed the multilevel open-group structure of the PGP, enhancing the mother's and father's change process.

Women's EmotionS, Trauma and EmpowErMent (W-ES.T.EEM) study protocol: a psychoeducational support intervention for victims of domestic violence - a randomised controlled trial

INTRODUCTION

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a widespread phenomenon that affects the physical and mental well-being of victims. Several barriers prevented sufferers from receiving face-to-face interventions. These obstacles increased with the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, and online psychological intervention can represent a valid solution to increase the well-being of IPV victims. This manuscript describes the study protocol for a single blind randomised controlled trial that examines the efficacy of a web-based psychoeducational intervention for IPV victims that integrates dialectical behavioural therapy and the empowerment approach.

METHODS AND ANALYSIS

Eighty-six women who were victims of IPV during the COVID-19 outbreak will be recruited by the Interdepartmental Center for Family Research (CIRF) staff from the several antiviolence centres located in Italy. Participants will be randomly allocated to the Women's EmotionS, Trauma and EmpowErMent experimental group or the treatment as usual control condition. Both interventions will be administered individually to each woman.

ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION

The study protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of the University of Padua (protocol no 4300). Written informed consent will be obtained from all research participants before study entry. Study results will be published as peer-reviewed articles. Any relevant protocol changes will be reported in the published articles. The results will be reported anonymously.

TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER

ISRCTN12880309.

Women and Violence: Alexithymia, Relational Competence and Styles, and Satisfaction with Life: A Comparative Profile Analysis

Background: This research investigates the two sides of violence by profiling female interpersonal violence offenders (IVO) and female interpersonal violence victims (IVV). These groups of women have been compared on three key variables within the context of violence: satisfaction with life (SWL), alexithymia, and relational styles-defined according to the Relational Competence Theory (RCT). Regarding the latter, the experience of functional or dysfunctional relational styles in childhood and adult relationships has been evaluated and compared with both groups of women. Methods: This study involved 131 women: IVO (n = 41; enrolled in a penitentiary), IVV (n = 41; enrolled in an anti-violence center), and a control group (CG; n = 49; enrolled from the general population). Profile analysis was performed. Results: Female IVO showed low SWL, high levels of alexithymia, and a pattern of mixed relational styles with both parents and the current partner. Female IVV revealed low SWL, low levels of alexithymia and dysfunctional relational styles with both parents and current partner. Women from the CG showed high SWL, absence of alexithymia and functional relational styles with both parents and current partner. Conclusions: The profiles outlined in this study are extremely informative regarding alexithymia, relational styles, and SWL in both female IVV and IVO. Clinical interventions for both groups of women should be developed relying on these results.