Behaviour vs. perception: An investigation into the components of emotional invalidation

Emotional Invalidation and Relationship Quality: A Mediational Model Through a Social Learning Lens

While we know childhood experiences are influential on a child's later socioemotional awareness and behavior, we are still searching for specific mechanisms that influence the transferability of childhood experiences and adult relationship functioning. In this study, we seek to further this area of investigation by examining the interpretation of ambiguous social interactions and perceptions of emotional invalidation as potential mediators of the relationship between perceptions of childhood emotional invalidation and current relationship quality. Participants completed online measures of hostile intent attributions, perceptions of childhood emotional invalidation, and current relationship quality with a significant other. They read emotionally provocative interpersonal scenarios and then reported likely emotionally invalidating reactions from their significant other to measure current perceptions of emotional invalidation. Results supported our hypotheses that perceptions of current emotional invalidation in a close, personal relationship would mediate the relationship between perceptions of childhood maternal emotional invalidation and both current relationship support and relationship conflict. Furthermore, the strength of this mediational pathway outweighed the influence of a more general hostile attribution bias. These findings have implications for prevention and intervention strategies designed to enhance interpersonal functioning.

Disclosure of Sexual Victimization: Effects of Invalidation and Shame on Re-Disclosure

Research on disclosure of sexual victimization has consistently demonstrated that the act of disclosure and the disclosure recipient have a synergistic effect in facilitating either positive or negative post-assault outcomes. While negative judgments such as victim blame have been argued to serve a silencing function, experimental investigations of this claim are lacking. The current study investigated whether invalidating feedback in response to self-disclosure of a personally distressing event produced feelings of shame, and whether shame influenced subsequent decisions around re-disclosure. Feedback type (validating, invalidating, no feedback) was manipulated in a sample of 142 college students. Results partially supported the hypothesis that shame resulted from invalidation, however shame was better predicted by individual perceptions of invalidation than the experimental manipulation. Although few participants opted to make changes to the content of their narrative for re-disclosure, those who did had higher levels of state shame. Results suggest that shame may be the affective mechanism by which invalidating judgments silence victims of sexual violence. The present study also supports the distinction previously made between Restore and Protect motivations in managing this shame. This study provides experimental support for the notion that an aversion to being shamed, communicated via an individual's perception of emotional invalidation, features in judgments of re-disclosure. Perceptions of invalidation, however, vary individually. Professionals working with victims of sexual violence should be mindful of the importance of shame attenuation in facilitating and encouraging disclosure.

Sense of mastery among older adults and its relation to invalidating childhood experiences

ObjectivesSense of mastery, a well-recognized resource for older adults, has been shown to be related to early life experiences, especially parent-child interactions. Yet while there are indications that a reduced sense of mastery is related to early experiences of child maltreatment, this association has not been studied among older adults. The aim of this study was to examine the relation between experiences of childhood parental invalidation and sense of mastery among older adults, through the mediation of self-objectification and perceived disrupted body boundaries.Methods: Three-hundred-and-sixteen older adults (Mean = 72.24; SD = 8.12 years; range: 60-94) filled out a battery of questionnaires assessing their levels of exposure to childhood parental invalidation experiences, sense of self-objectification, disrupted body boundaries, and sense of masteryResults: A structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis supported the hypothesized research model. More specifically, two significant indirect effects were observed, according to which the association between invalidating childhood experiences and sense of mastery was mediated by both self-objectification and by disrupted body boundaries.Conclusion: As these results suggest that early life experiences continue to affect individuals' sense of self in older age, they should be considered an important factor for evaluation and intervention.

Examining Facets of Mindfulness in the Relationship Between Invalidating Childhood Environments and Emotion Regulation

Research has shown that growing up in an environment in which emotions are invalidated (i.e., ignored or responded to negatively) by parents is associated with later difficulties regulating emotions. Meanwhile, dispositional mindfulness has been shown to engender a greater capacity for emotion regulation, through use of adaptive strategies like cognitive reframing and minimizing use of maladaptive strategies like expressive suppression. The current study aimed to explore the role of invalidating childhood environments on use of cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression as emotion regulation skills and to investigate the role of mindfulness in this relationship. Participants were recruited via Amazon Mechanical Turk (n = 1094, M_age = 58.3% women) and completed self-report measures assessing perceptions of maternal invalidation, mindfulness, and emotion regulation. Results demonstrated that the mindfulness facets of describing, non-judging, and non-reactivity partially mediated the relationship between perception of maternal invalidation and expressive suppression. Awareness and non-reactivity were found to mediate the relationship between perception of maternal invalidation and cognitive reappraisal. Clinical implications are discussed.