Exploring proximal mechanisms behind intergenerational association between maternal childhood abuse and Chinese preschool children's executive function

Background: Maternal personal history of childhood abuse has been found to predict child social-emotional problems; however, little is known about the intergenerational associations between maternal childhood abuse and child cognitive outcomes. Objective: This study aims at examining the intergenerational associations of maternal childhood emotional abuse and physical abuse with child executive functions among Chinese families with preschoolers, and exploring how these associations are mediated by maternal perspective-taking skills and mother-child conflict. Methods: Participants were 309 preschoolers (152 boys) aged 2–6 years and their mothers. Mothers reported on their childhood abuse histories, perspective taking, and mother-child conflict at baseline (T1). Five months later (T2), child executive functions including working memory, inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility were assessed using five computerized tasks. Results: After controlling for child gender and age, associations with child executive functions were found for maternal childhood emotional abuse, but not physical abuse. Specifically, severer childhood emotional abuse directly predicted lower levels of child cognitive flexibility. Furthermore, chained mediation paths were found from maternal childhood emotional abuse to lower levels of child working memory and inhibitory control through worse maternal perspective taking skills and then more mother-child conflicts. Conclusions: Our findings provide evidence for less optimal executive functions among preschoolers with emotionally abused mothers. Developing strategies to resolve the long-lasting impacts of maternal childhood emotional abuse may be important for reducing the risks of being unable to fully achieve the cognitive potentials of the next generation.