Leiden University Student Repository

Heijmans, Sam (2025)

De samenhang van kindermishandelingservaringen van de ouder met de somatische klachten van het kind, speelt geslacht van het kind een rol?

Master thesis | Education and Child Studies (MSc)

This study examines the relationship between maternal experiences of childhood maltreatment and somatic complaints in their young children, and investigates whether child gender moderates this relationship. It was hypothesized that higher levels of maternal childhood maltreatment would be associated with more somatic complaints in children, with a stronger association expected in girls. The sample consisted of mothers (M age = 31.23 years, SD = 5.60) and their children (M age = 2.54 years, SD = 1.95) residing in women’s shelters due to intimate partner violence. Data were analysed using moderation regression analysis. The results did not reveal a significant association between maternal childhood maltreatment and somatic complaints in children. Additionally, child gender did not moderate this relationship. Possible explanations include low reported levels of somatic complaints, cultural differences in the perception and interpretation of physical symptoms and potential...Show moreThis study examines the relationship between maternal experiences of childhood maltreatment and somatic complaints in their young children, and investigates whether child gender moderates this relationship. It was hypothesized that higher levels of maternal childhood maltreatment would be associated with more somatic complaints in children, with a stronger association expected in girls. The sample consisted of mothers (M age = 31.23 years, SD = 5.60) and their children (M age = 2.54 years, SD = 1.95) residing in women’s shelters due to intimate partner violence. Data were analysed using moderation regression analysis. The results did not reveal a significant association between maternal childhood maltreatment and somatic complaints in children. Additionally, child gender did not moderate this relationship. Possible explanations include low reported levels of somatic complaints, cultural differences in the perception and interpretation of physical symptoms and potential underreporting by mothers. Underreporting by mothers may stem from giving socially desirable answers or from the retrospective measurements being prone to memory bias. The young age of the children and the specific, vulnerable context of the sample in this study may also have influenced the findings. Despite the lack of significant results, this study highlights the importance of research within the high-risk population of woman in women’s shelters and emphasized the need for longitudinal studies to further explore the development of somatic symptoms in the context of parental trauma. In practice, this underscores the importance for professionals working in women’s shelters to be attentive to early signs of complaints in children, even when these are not yet clinically significant. Early recognition and intervention may help prevent the escalation of health issues in vulnerable family settings.Show less

young children, women’s shelters, childhood maltreatment, somatic complaints, gender differences, intimate partner violence, trauma.

Author

Heijmans, Sam

Faculty

Faculty of Social & Behavioural Sciences

Specialisation

Forensische Gezinspedagogiek

Supervisors

Willemien van den Dorpel

ECTS Credits

20

Language

nl