Child and Adult Victimization: Sequelae for Female Caregivers of High-Risk Children

Abstract

Little is known about the effects of child versus adult victimization or about the effects of victimization on physical health or social support. Mental and physical health outcomes among 890 female caregivers were examined utilizing data from the Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect (LONGSCAN). The study examined whether victimized women (compared to nonvictimized women) would endorse higher rates of depression, lower levels of social support, and poorer recent health. Differences between subgroups of victimized women defined by when victimization occurred (child only, adult only, and both child and adult) were also examined. Women with any victimization and women with victimization during both time periods had the worst outcomes. Child-only victimization effects, however, did not differ significantly from adult-only victimization. This study suggests added vulnerability for women victimized during both childhood and adulthood. Clinicians should carefully assess lifetime experiences of victimization; approaches to such assessment should be refined through further research.

Intergenerational Continuity in Child Maltreatment: Mediating Mechanisms and Implications for Prevention

“…In addition to finding a direct association between mothers' experiences of childhood physical abuse and their offspring's victimization, we find that two relationship-specific processes, social isolation and aggressive response biases, both reported during pregnancy, mediate this association. It is consistent with what is understood about the influence of childhood maltreatment on adult relationships and social networks (e.g., Weisbart et al, 2008), and about the role of parental social isolation in childhood maltreatment (e.g., Kotch et al, 1999), that mothers' perceptions of others being less available to help in times of need mediate the association between physical abuse and child victimization. Outside of the realm of maltreatment, even more normative variations in the quality of early child-parent relationships have strong implications for children's later relationships (Berlin, Cassidy, & Appleyard, 2008).…”

“…The second mediator we examine is mothers' social isolation. In so doing, we build on the considerable research evidence demonstrating childhood maltreatment as a predictor of problematic adult relationships, lower social support, and higher social isolation (Elliott, Cunningham, Linder, Colangelo, & Gross, 2005;Muller, Gragtmans, & Baker, 2008;Weisbart et al, 2008). Problematic adult relationships and social isolation are not only predicted by childhood maltreatment but also frequently identified as predictors of childhood maltreatment (Belsky, 1993;Kotch et al, 1999).…”

Violência conjugal: prevalência e fatores associados

“…Contribuindo para esta dificuldade de reconhecimento da violência, destacam-se as experiências de violência na família de origem, como vítima ou como testemunha, que parecem naturalizar a violência na vida adulta (Godbout et al, 2009;Milner et al, 2010;Noll et al, 2009;Rodriguez et al, 2006;Weisbart et al, 2008). Diante disso, cabe destacar a importância de identificação de violência nas primeiras relações amorosas a fim de auxiliar o jovem casal na identificação do fenômeno e no desenvolvimento de estraté-gias de resolução de conflitos mais saudáveis, sem a necessidade de uso da violência.…”

A Characterization of Adult Victims of Sexual Violence: Results From the National Epidemiological Survey for Alcohol and Related Conditions

“…Further, because history of childhood physical neglect and abuse (Trickett & McBride-Chang, 1995;Widom et al, 2008), parental psychopathology (Fleming, 1997) and lack of family support during childhood (Fleming, 1997;Weisbart et al 2008) constitute risk factors for childhood sexual abuse, we examined whether they also increased the risk of sexual victimization in adulthood even in the absence of childhood sexual abuse. Questions about childhood abuse and neglect and lack of family support were adapted from the Adverse Childhood Events study and were originally part of an extensive battery of questions from the Conflict Tactics Scale (Straus, 1979;Straus, Gelles, & Smith, 1990) and the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) (Bernstein et al, 1994;Wyatt, 1985).…”