This study examined the differential effects of child or non-offending mother participation in a cognitive behavioral intervention designed to treat posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other behavioral and emotional difficulties in school-aged sexually abused children. The 100 participating families were randomly assigned to one of three experimental treatment conditions—child only, mother only, or mother and child—or to a community control condition. Pre- and post-treatment evaluation included standardized measurement of children's behavior problems, anxiety, depression, and PTSD symptoms as well as of parenting practices. Two-by-two least-squares analyses of covariance were used to compare outcome measures. Results indicated that mothers assigned to the experimental treatment condition described significant decreases in their children's externalizing behaviors and increases in effective parenting skills; their children reported significant reductions in depression. Children who were assigned to the experimental intervention exhibited greater reductions in PTSD symptoms than children who were not. Implications for treatment planning and further clinical research are discussed.
Three groups of nonoffending mothers of sexually abused children were compared on 17 psychosocial characteristics. The groups were composed of 36 (36.4%) mothers of children abused by partners (i.e., incest victims), 30 (30.3%) mothers of children abused by other relatives, and 33 (33.3%) mothers of children abused by nonrelatives. Only physical abuse by a partner differentiated the groups; mothers of children sexually abused by a partner were more likely to report a history of domestic violence than mothers in either of the two other groups. Maternal self-reported symptom distress was measured across all three groups using the SCL-90-R. A multiple-regression analysis of the psychosocial characteristics on the SCL-90-R' s Global Severity Index indicated that a mother's perceived aloneness in facing this crisis and a personal history of adult sexual assault were positively related to current symptom distress. The implications of the present findings are discussed with respect to future research and clinical work with nonoffending mothers of sexually abused children.
The potential influence of maternal adjustment and parenting style on children's psychological adjustment following sexual abuse was examined. A battery of standardized parent and child self-report instruments were administered to 100 sexually abused children and their nonoffending mothers. The results of a series of multiple regression analyses indicated that the maternal self-reported depression significantly contributed to the expression of both post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and parent-reported internalizing behavior problems in sexually abused children. In addition, children's perceptions of their mothers' parenting style as rejecting rather than accepting contributed to the children's self-reported levels of depression. Children's perceptions of maternal use of guilt and anxiety-provoking parenting methods contributed to increased levels of PTSD symptoms and parent-reported externalizing behavior problems. These findings are discussed in terms of their research and treatment implications.
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