Mothers who were sexually abused during childhood are more likely to have a child victim of sexual violence

Abstract

Introduction: Recurrent exposure to childhood sexual abuse (CSA) seems to be higher among victims of sexual abuse. In this sense, experiences related to sexual violence can perpetuate within the family context itself in various ways. Here, we investigate the association between being exposed to CSA and having a child victim of sexual abuse. Method: We used a sample with 123 mothers, who were divided into 2 groups: one consisting of 41 mothers of sexually abused children and another consisting of 82 mothers of non-sexually abused children. History of exposure to CSA was evaluated by means of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire - Short Form (CTQ) and we used a logistic regression model to estimate the prediction values regarding having or not a child exposed to sexual violence. Results: Mothers of sexually abused children had significantly higher scores on CTQ, especially on the sexual abuse subscale (SA). According to our logistic regression model, higher scores on the CTQ significantly predicted the status of being a mother of children exposed to sexual violence in our sample (Wald = 7.074; p = 0.008; Exp(B) = 1.681). Years of formal education reduced the likelihood of having a child victim of sexual violence (Wald = 18.994; p = 0.001; Exp(B) = 0.497). Conclusion: Our findings highlight the importance of a possible intergenerational effect of sexual abuse. Family intervention and prevention against childhood maltreatment should take this issue in account.

Maternal and Child Sexual Abuse History: An Intergenerational Exploration of Children’s Adjustment and Maternal Trauma-Reflective Functioning

“…Childhood sexual abuse has impacts across familial generations in terms of the likelihood of sexual victimization (McCloskey, 2000). There is converging evidence of intergenerational patterns of risk and mothers who are CSA survivors are up to 3.6 times as likely to have children who are also exposed to sexual violence compared to mothers who were not abused (Oates et al, 1998; McCloskey, 2000; Testa et al, 2011; Wearick-Silva et al, 2014; Testoni et al, 2018). Indeed, links in CSA risk spanning three generations have even been documented (Leifer et al, 2004; McCloskey, 2013).…”

Narratives of Mothers Whose Children Had Been Sexually Abused: Maternal Reactions and Comprehension Regarding Child and Adolescent Sexual Abuse

“…It is remarkable that half of the participants have also experienced sexual abuse when growing up, a higher prevalence than what is usually observed in the general population (Alaggia et al, 2019;Barth et al, 2013;Singh et al, 2014). Previous studies have shown that mothers who were sexually abused during childhood are more likely to have a child victim of sexual violence (Borelli et al, 2019;Wearick-Silva et al, 2014). Usually, when mothers are also victims of sexual abuse themselves, not only do they feel overwhelmed and shocked by their child's disclosure of the violence but also feel confused about how to deal with their own emotions.…”