NCJ Number
194932
Journal
Journal of Family Violence Volume: 17 Issue: 2 Dated: June 2002 Pages: 107-116
Date Published
June 2002
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This study determined whether maternal depression would impact the adjustment of sexually abused children.
Abstract
The study hypothesized that depressed mothers would report more behavioral difficulties for their sexually abused children than nondepressed mothers. Participants were 58 children and their mothers who were referred for trauma symptoms related to sexual abuse. Mothers completed the Beck Depression Inventory as a measure of their depression, and the mothers rated their children's behaviors on the Revised Behavior Problem Checklist. The children completed the Children's Depression Inventory and the Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale. As hypothesized, depressed mothers were more likely than nondepressed mothers to report conduct disorder and socialized aggression symptoms in their abused children. This finding is consistent with the view that depressed mothers are more likely than nondepressed mothers to report more externalizing behavioral problems in their children. The direction of causality remains unclear. It may be that due to a depressed mother's ineffective parenting, abused children are likely to engage in acting-out behavior that renders mothers as more depressed and helpless, either negatively reinforcing or nonextinguishing their children's maladaptive behavior. Nondepressed mothers may be more attentive to their children's emotional needs following the abuse, leaving their children less likely to seek involvement with other societal subgroups or to run away from home. The children of depressed mothers endorsed significantly more depression items than children of nondepressed mothers. There were no differences in anxiety as reported by abused children of depressed mothers compared with nondepressed mothers. 1 table and 37 references