Nouvelles normalités Nouvelles pathologies Nouvelles ... - Psynem

6° 6éme Congresso Congrès Européen Europeo de di Psicopatologia Psychopathologie dell’Infanzia de l’Enfance e et dell’Adolescenza
de l’Adolescence
Nuove Nouvelles normalità normalités Nuove Nouvelles patologie pathologies Nuove pratiche Nouvelles pratiques
FRIDAY, May 6 WORKSHOPS
Workshop 18 Narrative and symptoms in longitudinal studies
NARRATIVES OF MOTHERS WITH SOCIAL PHOBIA TO THEIR CHILDREN:
THEIR ROLE IN CHILD REPRESENTATIONS AND ADJUSTMENT
Lynne Murray, Peter Cooper, Jeff Pella, Laura Pass Department of Psychology, University of Reading (Reading - UK)
Background, design and method: Children of
mothers with social phobia are at raised risk for
social anxiety themselves. In a longitudinal study
of the development of children of mothers with
social phobia, mothers were asked to talk their
child, aged four years, about starting school, using
a picture book as a prompt.
Child representations of going to school were
assessed by means of doll play, and child adjustment
at school (anxiety and peer relationships)
was assessed by teacher report and direct observation.
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Results: Compared to non-anxious mothers, the
narratives of mothers with social phobia showed
more attribution of threat and vulnerability, promoted
child autonomy less, and failed to resolve
child anxiety.Correspondingly, their children
showed more negative representations of school
in doll play, and these in turn predicted poorer
child adjustment and peer relationships.
Conclusions and clinical implications: Maternal
narratives might be a fruitful route for intervention
to address intergenerational transmission of
social phobia.