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This chapter provides a developmental psychopathology perspective on mother-child interactions among maltreating and nonmaltreating families from infancy through toddlerhood, addressing how a maltreating family environment affects developmental outcomes. Because child maltreatment represents an extreme deviation from the average expected early caregiving environment, the comparison of maltreating and nonmaltreating families serves as an experiment of nature and provides critical information regarding the contribution of early caregiving to young children’s development. This chapter concludes by providing specific examples of translational research interventions for young maltreatment children informed by basic research on mother-child interactions during early childhood.

This chapter analyzes the Yale Longitudinal Study (YLS)—which documented the early and middle childhood years of a dozen children in New Haven County, Connecticut—within the context of other similar studies that were carried out during the middle decades of the twentieth century. It shows how the YLS became a popular tool for many practitioners in the field of child psychiatry from the 1950s through the mid-1970s when investigating children's cognitive, social, and emotional development. It also examines the role played by the YLS in the transformation of research on children within the mental sciences in the post-World War II era. The chapter argues that longitudinal research was embraced by child psychiatrists because it offered a means of accurately documenting the psychological phenomena involved in child development, including ego formation, development of individuality, and mother-child interactions.

This chapter presents the data that adrenocortical activity is an important factor mediating the child's internal social milieu. The results show that rat pups may “internalize” the results of early maternal regulation, encoded as information about how easy or difficult it is to activate stress-sensitive systems in adulthood. Discussion on attachment, temperament and adrenocortical function is also provided. Even though only a few studies on attachment and cortisol in humans have been conducted, it is probably that thresholds for adrenocortical function are influenced by early mother-child interactions. The most consistent result observed is that infants with disorganized attachments display larger cortisol responses to the Strange Situation than do those with organized attachments. It can be concluded that there are at least two pathways to hyperactivity of the adrenocortical system: (1) innate constitutional differences (temperament) and (2) less than optimal mother-infant interactions early in life.

The physical and psychological repercussions of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) against women are long-lasting and far-reaching, and it is by no accident that CRSV is now widely referred to as a “weapon of war.” Many women conceive a child as a result of CRSV, but due to long-standing customs and traditions in some conservative societies surrounding gender roles and sexuality, these mothers and children are highly stigmatized. Often in these situations, fleeing is the only option for them. Countries such as the Netherlands that host asylum seekers and refugees and provide psychological support are faced with the challenging task of addressing the intricate needs of mothers and children born of sexual violence. This chapter discusses the victimhood of these dyads, the challenges they face, and future directions for providing optimal care and treatment.