NCJ Number
152078
Journal
Journal of Child Sexual Abuse Volume: 3 Issue: 3 Dated: (1994) Pages: 67-75
Date Published
1994
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This study examined the impact of a personal history of sexual abuse as children on the responses of nonoffending mothers to allegations that their children were sexually abused.
Abstract
Mothers exhibit a wide range of emotional responses to the discovery that their children may have been sexually abused. The clinical lore suggests that a personal history of child sexual abuse (CSA) may influence maternal reactions to such a discovery. Although the impact of a history of CSA has been examined in a variety of populations, the impact of such a history has rarely been studied with respect to nonoffending mothers of CSA victims. The current study compared nonoffending mothers with and without a history of CSA with respect to demographic variables, psychosocial functioning, and personal responses to the CSA allegations concerning their children. Nonoffending mothers with a history of CSA exhibited more general symptom distress as measured by the SCL-90-R and reported greater feelings of aloneness in facing the crisis of the CSA allegations; however, maternal history of CSA did not differentiate the groups with respect to demographic variables or maternal responses to the CSA allegations concerning their children. The findings suggest that therapeutic interventions of nonoffending mothers should take into account maternal history of CSA, since it identifies critical issues to address in therapy. Therapeutic interventions for mothers with a personal history of CSA should be designed to target directly the symptom distress and sense of isolation experienced by providing mothers with the support and coping skills they may be lacking. Also, maternal history of CSA should be included as a moderating variable in future investigations that examine the effectiveness of interventions for sexually abused children and their parents. 2 tables and 11 references