Maternal interpersonal violence-related posttraumatic stress disorder (IPV-PTSD) is known to be
associated with impairment of a mother’s capacity to participate in mutual emotion regulation during her child’s
first years of life. This study tested the hypothesis that
maternal difficulty in identifying feelings in self and other,
as an important dimension of the construct of alexithymia,
together with maternal IPV-PTSD, would be negatively
associated with maternal sensitivity. Maternal sensitivity to
child emotional communication is a marker of maternal
capacity to engage in mutual regulation of emotion and
arousal. Following diagnostic interviews and administration of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale, 56 mothers and
their toddlers (ages 12–42 months) were filmed during
free-play and separation/novelty-exposure. Observed
maternal sensitivity was coded via the CARE-Index.
Maternal IPV-PTSD severity, difficulty in identifying
emotions, and lower socio-economic status were all associated with less maternal sensitivity, and also with more
maternal controlling and unresponsive behavior on the
CARE-Index.