NCJ Number
137353
Journal
Family Process Volume: 30 Dated: (1991) Pages: 421-434
Date Published
1991
Length
14 pages
Annotation
Observations of family interaction and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 mothers who had been sexually abused before the age of 14 and 20 mothers who had no experience of sexual or physical childhood abuse to explore links between childhood history of family sexual abuse and current parenting behaviors.
Abstract
Abuse-history mothers focused significantly more on themselves and less on their children and gave significantly more messages that communicated belittling and blame than women who had not experienced childhood abuse. There were no significant differences between the two groups in regard to teaching or direct control-type messages nor to submitting messages in response to the child's attempts at control. The study findings provide support for the idea that in sexually abusive family systems, even a generation after occurrence of the abuse, parents' behavior is more similar to the prototypically child-like role and less prototypically parent-like than in other families. 1 figure, 5 tables, and 31 references