NCJ Number
232728
Journal
Child Abuse & Neglect Volume: 34 Issue: 10 Dated: October 2010 Pages: 784-792
Date Published
October 2010
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This study's purpose was to develop a reliable and valid mother-report measure for assessing maternal support following the disclosure of child sexual abuse, since maternal support is an important factor in predicting outcome following the disclosure of child sexual abuse.
Abstract
The study resulted in the development of a brief, easily scored self-report measure of maternal support with reasonable preliminary psychometric properties that could easily be used in other studies of sexually abused children. Exploratory factor analysis resulted in two reliable seven-item factors labeled "Emotional Support" and "Blame/Doubt," each of which had acceptable internal consistency. This instrument is called the Maternal Self-report Support Questionnaire (MSSQ). Adoption of this promising measure in future research will reduce the lack of cross-study measurement comparability that has characterized the maternal support literature to date, increase the feasibility of expanding upon current literature on maternal support, and may produce important information that leads to clinical and theoretical innovation. Data were combined from two similar samples of mother-child pairs who were seeking forensic evaluation following the discovery of child sexual abuse. This resulted in a final sample of 246 mother-child pairs. Reliability analyses of the MSSQ were conducted to examine the internal consistency of each scale. Construct validity was examined by exploring relations between the MSSQ and child ratings of general maternal support using the My Family and Friends interview. In order to explore the MSSQ's relations with clinically relevant outcomes, correlations between the MSSQ scales and the Child Behavior Checklist were examined. In addition, characteristics of the sexual abuse and child demographic variables were examined in relation to the MSSQ. 3 tables and 39 references