Research Information System
Thesis Type: Postgraduate
Institution Of The Thesis: TED University, Graduate School, Dev. Focused Clin. Child&Adolescent Psy., Turkey
Approval Date: 2021
Thesis Language: English
Student: İdil Alaftar
Supervisor: Tuğba Uzer Yıldız
Abstract:Previous studies demonstrated that early maladaptive schemas (EMSs) are transmitted from mothers to children through adverse childhood experiences, such as maltreatment and unfulfilled core needs. The traumatic memory literature demonstrated that people with a history of trauma recall their traumatic and/or other negative experiences as categories of events—a phenomenon called overgeneral autobiographical memory (OGM)—to avoid the accompanying intense negative feelings. In the long run, OGM originating from an affect-regulation process after childhood traumatic experiences can facilitate the development of EMSs in children. This study expands the previous literature by studying whether OGM facilitates the transmission of EMSs by strengthening maladaptive thinking patterns after traumatic experiences. A total of 120 mothers and late adolescents participated in this study. Mothers filled out the forms online from the link sent to their e-mail addresses, and adolescents completed the forms online. Late adolescents completed the Autobiographical Memory Recall Task, Young Schema Questionnaire-Short Form-3 (YSQ-SF3), Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, and Beck Depression Inventory. Mothers filled out the YSQ-SF3 and BDI. The results confirmed that adverse childhood experiences significantly mediated the relationship between mothers' and children's disconnection and rejection schemas. Furthermore, this relationship was stronger, especially for children with a higher tendency of overgeneral retrieval of negative experiences. The present study provides evidence that OGM facilitates the transmission of early maladaptive schemas. Keywords: early maladaptive schemas, schema transmission, adverse childhood experiences, overgeneral autobiographical memory