Maltreatment during childhood has many long‐lasting effects. Victims often become parents who experience parenting difficulties, therefore contributing to the intergenerational cycle of maltreatment. This paper highlights the consequences of severe trauma during childhood on two processes critical for a sensitive response, namely the recognition of and the initial reaction to emotional signals. We argue that most interventions focus on the observed parental response to children's behaviors or on parental interpretation of children's signals, that is, the attribution of meaning or intent to the signal. Interventions should better integrate research indicating that a history of childhood maltreatment could impair the capacity to correctly identify the emotion and the immediate reaction to these signals. By failing to acknowledge these long‐lasting consequences of childhood maltreatment, scholars and practitioners might never achieve true success in intervening with families in the hope of breaking the intergenerational cycle of maltreatment.

中文翻译：

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童年时期遭受虐待后对儿童信号的识别和初步反应


童年时期的虐待会产生许多长期的影响。受害者往往成为经历养育困难的父母，因此助长了虐待的代际循环。本文强调了童年时期严重创伤对敏感反应至关重要的两个过程的影响，即对情绪信号的识别和最初反应。我们认为，大多数干预措施侧重于观察到的父母对儿童行为的反应或父母对儿童信号的解释，即对信号的意义或意图的归因。干预措施应更好地整合研究，这些研究表明儿童虐待史可能会损害正确识别情绪和对这些信号立即反应的能力。如果不承认儿童虐待的长期后果，学者和从业者可能永远无法在干预家庭以打破虐待的代际循环方面取得真正的成功。