Sexual abuse as a factor in child maltreatment by adolescent mothers of preschool aged children

Abstract

We examined the role of a history of sexual abuse as a predictor of child maltreatment by adolescent mothers in a prospective study of 104 mother-child dyads. Mothers were interviewed about any experienced abuse, and the mother-child dyads were observed in a teaching interaction and in the Strange Situation when the children were 1 year old. Three and a half years later, the mothers were interviewed about their Child Protective Service (CPS) contacts since the birth of their children. The percentage of mothers reporting CPS contacts for their own children was 15.4%, 38.5%, and 83.3%, respectively, for those mothers with no history of sexual abuse, a history of a single incident or brief duration of sexual abuse, and those mothers with a history of chronic sexual abuse (median 24 months duration; test of increasing trend significant atp< .000009). Mothers who reported having been chronically sexually abused as children were significantly more likely to have CPS contacts for their own children, after controlling for history of physical abuse, quality of early teaching interactions, and infant attachment security (both of which also predicted CPS contacts), race, IQ, welfare status at 1 year postpartum, and history of foster care.

Validation de la version française du CTQ et prévalence de l’histoire de maltraitance 1

“…Notre intention était de recruter autant d'hommes que de femmes, et ce, dans des proportions similaires à celles de la population générale en ce qui concerne l'âge, soit 17 Les recherches antérieures ont démontré la validité des instruments rétrospectifs pour rapporter l'histoire d'abus et de négligence (Bifulco et al, 1997 ;Spieker et al, 1996).…”

Prévalence et cooccurrence de cinq formes de maltraitance en lien avec la dépression et le trouble de la conduite chez les mères adolescentes

“…D'autre part, les études ont mis en évidence une relation entre l'abus sexuel et la grossesse adolescente (Oz et Fine, 1988 ;Smith, 1996 ;Roosa et al, 1997). Bien qu'un certain nombre de mères adolescentes aient été exposées à plusieurs formes de maltraitance (Smith, 1996), leurs effets sur leur santé mentale et leurs comportements parentaux sont encore mal connus, puisque les formes d'abus et de négligence sont rarement différenciées dans la recherche sur la transmission intergénérationnelle de la maltraitance (Spieker et al, 1996).…”

“…Toutes les adolescentes de l'échantillon ont répondu au CTQ lorsqu'elles étaient enceintes de leur premier enfant. Les recherches antérieures ont démontré la validité des instruments rétrospectifs pour rapporter l'histoire d'abus et de négligence (Bifulco et al, 1997 ;Spieker et al, 1996). Le CTQ a été traduit en français et validé par Paquette et al (2004).…”

Adolescent Victims and Intergenerational Issues in Sexual Abuse

“…A prospective study by Boyer and Fine (1992) indicated that adolescent mothers who were sexually abused were three times more likely to have children who were maltreated than nonabused adolescent mothers. Another recent investigation showed that a history of chronic sexual abuse increased the chances that an adolescent mother would be involved with Child Protective Services (Spieker, Bensley, McMahon, Fung, & Ossiander, 1996). The majority of cases were reported for neglect not sexual abuse, however.…”

“…The majority of cases were reported for neglect not sexual abuse, however. The mothers who reported histories of abuse also reported less supportive relationships with their families and more prepregnancy drug use (Spieker et al, 1996), suggesting that assessment of additional contextual variables (e.g., family support, substance abuse) is also important in examining possible intergenerational links.…”