Childhood maltreatment and negative cognitive styles: A quantitative and qualitative review

The current article presents both quantitative and qualitative reviews of research examining the relation between childhood maltreatment and negative cognitive styles. The results of both reviews suggest that there is a small but significant relation between childhood emotional maltreatment and cognitive styles, and that this relation may be stronger for studies including maltreatment committed by both family and nonfamily members than for studies including only family member perpetrators. Similarly, there appears to be a small but significant relation between childhood sexual maltreatment and cognitive styles, but this relation was significant only among relatively older individuals. Finally, there was no evidence for a significant relation between childhood physical maltreatment and cognitive styles.