CARA Project - Cognition, Emotion and Parenting Behavior

Childhood maltreatment is a major risk factor for severe mental and physical health issues and often linked to dysfunctional parenting. While risk factors for child physical abuse and neglect are well understood, those for psychological maltreatment remain largely unexplored. A prominent theoretical framework is the Social Information Processing Model which proposes that distortions in different stages of information processing increase the likelihood of dysfunctional or even maltreating behavior. Although this model is validated for child physical abuse and neglect, this study is the first to test the initial stage – pre-existing schemata – in the context of child psychological maltreatment. This project aims to advance understanding of the role of parental cognitive and affective schemata in potentially harmful parenting, with a particular focus on child psychological maltreatment (CPM). It comprises a longitudinal investigation in the general population conducted at two time points. At T1, a sample of N = 1,024 parents from Germany and Switzerland completed an online survey assessing cognitive and affective schemata, parenting behavior as well as adverse childhood experiences and perceived stress. The longitudinal extension (T2) pursues two primary aims. First, it seeks to provide deeper insight into temporal risk mechanisms underlying potentially harmful parenting behaviors, specifically stress and major life events. A sample of N = 500 participants were re-assessed after six months to examine the impact of within-person changes in stress levels on parenting behavior. Second, the study aims to validate the CPM instrument developed at T1. The original 19-item measure is re-administered as an expanded set of 36 additional items (in total: 55 items) to allow for a comprehensive examination of its psychometric properties. Overall, the findings have the potential to inform risk assessment as well as the development of prevention and intervention strategies targeting CPM.