Date of Award
2026
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy in Clinical Psychology
Department
Psychology
Committee Chair and Members
Sara Haden, Chair
Nicholas Papouchis
Philip Wong
Keywords
Maladaptive coping, Mentalization, Parental emotion socialization, Shame, Shame proneness, Trauma
Abstract
Among the self-conscious emotions—such as guilt, shame, and embarrassment—shame has increasingly received attention in the clinical literature for its established link to a range of psychopathological outcomes (Paulo et al., 2020). It is a prominent experience for individuals with histories of childhood maltreatment (Herman, 2012) and plays a central role in the development and maintenance of symptoms related to trauma and personality disorders (Lee et al., 2001). Further, maladaptive coping strategies used to manage shame often exacerbate psychological distress (Martin et al., 2021), highlighting a need to identify factors that contribute to the development of chronic shame and related coping mechanisms. The present study investigated the effect of unsupportive or negative parental emotion socialization (NES) and mentalization abilities on coping with shame among adults reporting a history of maltreatment. A sample of 163 adults completed self-report measures and underwent an experimental shame induction. Results indicated that both NES and mentalization significantly predicted maladaptive shame coping. Exploratory analyses further revealed that specific types of negative emotion socialization practices were associated with particular shame coping styles. Further, participants exposed to a shame induction exhibited greater behavioral aggression toward others compared to those in the control condition. However, no significant association was found between behavioral and self-report measures of shame coping. These findings highlight key relational and developmental factors that contribute to maladaptive shame regulation in adulthood and extend experimental paradigms for investigating shame and its coping processes. Clinical implications and future directions are considered.
Recommended Citation
Malinsky, Ayelet Raya, "Maladaptive shame coping: The effects of parental emotion socialization and mentalization in the context of maltreatment" (2026). Selected Full-Text Dissertations 2020-. 70.
https://digitalcommons.liu.edu/brooklyn_fulltext_dis/70