Early Childhood Antecedents of Dehumanization Perpetration in Adult Romantic Relationships

Bengianni Pizzirani; Gery C. Karantzas; Glenn I. Roisman; Jeffry A. Simpson

doi:10.1177/1948550620974892

Early Childhood Antecedents of Dehumanization Perpetration in Adult Romantic Relationships

Bengianni Pizzirani, Gery C. Karantzas, Glenn I. Roisman, Jeffry A. Simpson

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

8 Scopus citations

Abstract

Data from the Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Risk and Adaptation (MLSRA) were utilized to provide the first investigation into the early childhood antecedents of dehumanization (i.e., treating another as less than human) in adult romantic relationships. Drawing on a sample of 109 MLSRA participants, multiple assessments of maternal care and empathy were collected during infancy and early childhood. In adulthood, MLSRA participants and their romantic partners engaged in video recorded conflict discussions in which dehumanization perpetration was coded. Maternal hostility was a significant and unique predictor of dehumanization perpetration. This longitudinal association remained even when controlling for the partner’s displays of dehumanization and several demographic covariates. This study provides the first evidence of early childhood antecedents of dehumanization and highlights how experiences during the first few years of life can have enduring downstream consequences for people’s romantic relationships 20–30 years later.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	1175-1183
Number of pages	9
Journal	Social Psychological and Personality Science
Volume	12
Issue number	7
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550620974892
State	Published - Dec 3 2020

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Risk and Adaptation was supported by grants from the National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (R01 HD054850), the National Institute of Mental Health (R01 MH40864), and the National Institute on Aging (R01 AG039453). This research was also supported by the Australian Government Department of Education and Training’s Australia Awards Endeavour Fellowship and the Australian Government Department of Education and Training’s Research Training Program (formally the Australian Postgraduate Award) both awarded to Bengianni Pizzirani.

Funding Information:
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Risk and Adaptation was supported by grants from the National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (R01 HD054850), the National Institute of Mental Health (R01 MH40864), and the National Institute on Aging (R01 AG039453). This research was also supported by the Australian Government Department of Education and Training?s Australia Awards Endeavour Fellowship and the Australian Government Department of Education and Training?s Research Training Program (formally the Australian Postgraduate Award) both awarded to Bengianni Pizzirani.

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2020.

Keywords

dehumanization
maltreatment
maternal care
romantic relationships
social learning theory

Publisher link

10.1177/1948550620974892

Find It

Find It at U of M Libraries

Cite this

@article{988e0464bf7e4f988d3efd5795f585b6,

title = "Early Childhood Antecedents of Dehumanization Perpetration in Adult Romantic Relationships",

abstract = "Data from the Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Risk and Adaptation (MLSRA) were utilized to provide the first investigation into the early childhood antecedents of dehumanization (i.e., treating another as less than human) in adult romantic relationships. Drawing on a sample of 109 MLSRA participants, multiple assessments of maternal care and empathy were collected during infancy and early childhood. In adulthood, MLSRA participants and their romantic partners engaged in video recorded conflict discussions in which dehumanization perpetration was coded. Maternal hostility was a significant and unique predictor of dehumanization perpetration. This longitudinal association remained even when controlling for the partner{\textquoteright}s displays of dehumanization and several demographic covariates. This study provides the first evidence of early childhood antecedents of dehumanization and highlights how experiences during the first few years of life can have enduring downstream consequences for people{\textquoteright}s romantic relationships 20–30 years later.",

keywords = "dehumanization, maltreatment, maternal care, romantic relationships, social learning theory",

author = "Bengianni Pizzirani and Karantzas, {Gery C.} and Roisman, {Glenn I.} and Simpson, {Jeffry A.}",

note = "Funding Information: The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Risk and Adaptation was supported by grants from the National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (R01 HD054850), the National Institute of Mental Health (R01 MH40864), and the National Institute on Aging (R01 AG039453). This research was also supported by the Australian Government Department of Education and Training{\textquoteright}s Australia Awards Endeavour Fellowship and the Australian Government Department of Education and Training{\textquoteright}s Research Training Program (formally the Australian Postgraduate Award) both awarded to Bengianni Pizzirani. Funding Information: The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Risk and Adaptation was supported by grants from the National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (R01 HD054850), the National Institute of Mental Health (R01 MH40864), and the National Institute on Aging (R01 AG039453). This research was also supported by the Australian Government Department of Education and Training?s Australia Awards Endeavour Fellowship and the Australian Government Department of Education and Training?s Research Training Program (formally the Australian Postgraduate Award) both awarded to Bengianni Pizzirani. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} The Author(s) 2020.",

year = "2020",

month = dec,

day = "3",

doi = "10.1177/1948550620974892",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "12",

pages = "1175--1183",

journal = "Social Psychological and Personality Science",

issn = "1948-5506",

publisher = "Sage Periodicals Press",

number = "7",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Early Childhood Antecedents of Dehumanization Perpetration in Adult Romantic Relationships

AU - Pizzirani, Bengianni

AU - Karantzas, Gery C.

AU - Roisman, Glenn I.

AU - Simpson, Jeffry A.

N1 - Funding Information: The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Risk and Adaptation was supported by grants from the National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (R01 HD054850), the National Institute of Mental Health (R01 MH40864), and the National Institute on Aging (R01 AG039453). This research was also supported by the Australian Government Department of Education and Training’s Australia Awards Endeavour Fellowship and the Australian Government Department of Education and Training’s Research Training Program (formally the Australian Postgraduate Award) both awarded to Bengianni Pizzirani. Funding Information: The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Risk and Adaptation was supported by grants from the National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (R01 HD054850), the National Institute of Mental Health (R01 MH40864), and the National Institute on Aging (R01 AG039453). This research was also supported by the Australian Government Department of Education and Training?s Australia Awards Endeavour Fellowship and the Australian Government Department of Education and Training?s Research Training Program (formally the Australian Postgraduate Award) both awarded to Bengianni Pizzirani. Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2020.

PY - 2020/12/3

Y1 - 2020/12/3

N2 - Data from the Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Risk and Adaptation (MLSRA) were utilized to provide the first investigation into the early childhood antecedents of dehumanization (i.e., treating another as less than human) in adult romantic relationships. Drawing on a sample of 109 MLSRA participants, multiple assessments of maternal care and empathy were collected during infancy and early childhood. In adulthood, MLSRA participants and their romantic partners engaged in video recorded conflict discussions in which dehumanization perpetration was coded. Maternal hostility was a significant and unique predictor of dehumanization perpetration. This longitudinal association remained even when controlling for the partner’s displays of dehumanization and several demographic covariates. This study provides the first evidence of early childhood antecedents of dehumanization and highlights how experiences during the first few years of life can have enduring downstream consequences for people’s romantic relationships 20–30 years later.

AB - Data from the Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Risk and Adaptation (MLSRA) were utilized to provide the first investigation into the early childhood antecedents of dehumanization (i.e., treating another as less than human) in adult romantic relationships. Drawing on a sample of 109 MLSRA participants, multiple assessments of maternal care and empathy were collected during infancy and early childhood. In adulthood, MLSRA participants and their romantic partners engaged in video recorded conflict discussions in which dehumanization perpetration was coded. Maternal hostility was a significant and unique predictor of dehumanization perpetration. This longitudinal association remained even when controlling for the partner’s displays of dehumanization and several demographic covariates. This study provides the first evidence of early childhood antecedents of dehumanization and highlights how experiences during the first few years of life can have enduring downstream consequences for people’s romantic relationships 20–30 years later.

KW - dehumanization

KW - maltreatment

KW - maternal care

KW - romantic relationships

KW - social learning theory

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85097097400&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85097097400&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1177/1948550620974892

DO - 10.1177/1948550620974892

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85097097400

SN - 1948-5506

VL - 12

SP - 1175

EP - 1183

JO - Social Psychological and Personality Science

JF - Social Psychological and Personality Science

IS - 7

ER -

Early Childhood Antecedents of Dehumanization Perpetration in Adult Romantic Relationships

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

Publisher link

Find It

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this