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In this article, the author examines the use of transitional objects in a case study of a 12-year-old boy, documenting the role of art therapy in helping the boy cope with the trauma of his parents' recent separation and divorce. Transitional objects emerged spontaneously as the boy integrated the transition that the divorce of his parents created; these objects were elaborated through various art materials and their use eventually decreased as the boy achieved a more secure sense of self. The case illustrates the therapeutic value of transitional objects and transitional space in therapy. (Contains 6 figures.)

Limited research has investigated the long-term effects of childhood emotional abuse on later forms of parenting. This study utilized a person-centered approach to explore the relation between retrospectively-reported maternal childhood emotional abuse and observed parenting behaviors during a conflict discussion. Data were collected from 53 caregiver-child dyads with children ages 8-11. Results of a model-based clustering procedure (Mclust; Fraley and Raftery 2006) identified three parenting styles (negative, at-risk, positive) that were based on five observed parenting behaviors (emotion regulation, anger, hostility, psychological control, and psychological unavailability). Results indicated that higher levels of childhood emotional abuse were reported by women in the at-risk and negative parenting subgroups. Mothers in the negative parenting and at-risk parenting clusters exhibited greater levels of emotional abuse when compared to the positive parenting cluster. Possible implications are discussed, and results underscore the importance of emotionally abusive developmental experiences in the understanding of risk for maladaptive parenting behaviors. Keywords Emotional abuse * Person-centered analysis * Parenting * At-risk parenting, Studies have consistently demonstrated that childhood physical and sexual abuse are associated with a broad range of psychological problems that persist into adulthood including increased risk for depression, substance abuse, [...]

Little research has investigated factors that may moderate the intergenerational transmission of emotionally unsupportive parenting behaviors. The present study examined the role of two moderators, emotion dysregulation and maternal age at childbirth, on the relation between maternal childhood history of emotional maltreatment and current observations of emotionally unsupportive parenting behaviors in 64 mother–child dyads. Results indicated that mothers who were younger at childbirth seemed more likely to engage in emotionally unsupportive parenting behaviors in the context of high levels of sustained childhood emotional maltreatment, regardless of their level of emotion dysregulation. Mothers who were older at childbirth were at high risk for emotionally unsupportive parenting behaviors in the context of high levels of sustained emotional maltreatment histories and high emotion dysregulation, yet were not at such risk if emotion dysregulation was low. Implications for the buffering effects of emotion regulation on the risk for emotionally unsupportive behaviors were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]