NCJ Number
194931
Journal
Journal of Child Sexual Abuse Volume: 10 Issue: 1 Dated: 2001 Pages: 109-118
Date Published
2001
Length
10 pages
Annotation
To examine partner abuse among women in families in which a child has disclosed sexual abuse, 102 mothers completed a measure of partner abuse and the Coping Response Inventory.
Abstract
The study also explored the relationship between partner abuse and the coping strategies that mothers used to deal with the sexual abuse disclosure. The mean age of the children who were sexually abused was 8.5 years, with the children ranging in age from 2 to 17 years. Seventy-seven percent of the child victims were girls, and the average time since disclosure was 17 weeks. Using an interview format, participants were asked to indicate the presence or absence of a number of abusive behaviors in their current marital/partner relationship and in previous marital/partner relationships. Emotional abuse was operationally defined as jealousy or suspicion of friends, withholding finances, verbal insults, verbal threats, and threats with a weapon. Physical abuse was operationally defined as pushing, slapping, punching, and beatings severe enough to require medical attention. Participants also completed the Coping Response Inventory-Part II. They were asked to rate the extent to which they relied on the various coping strategies to deal with their child's sexual abuse disclosure. A total of 37 women (36 percent of the sample) reported they had experienced some type of abuse in their current husband/partner relationship. Thirty-three of these women reported some type of emotional abuse, and 20 women reported experiencing physical abuse. Four of the women had experienced severe physical abuse. A total of 73 women (72 percent of the sample) indicated they had experienced some type of abuse in a previous husband/partner relationship. As expected, women who were currently in marital/partner relationships in which there was physical abuse were more likely to use avoidance coping strategies in dealing with the sexual abuse disclosure than were women who were not in such a relationship. No differences in coping strategies were found based on emotional partner abuse. These prevalence rates suggest that it is important to assess for a history of abuse when working with mothers whose children have been sexually abused, since this abuse may be important in understanding the context in which women respond to the sexual abuse disclosure. 1 table and 39 references