Resilience in Non-Offending Mothers of Children Who Have Reported Experiencing Sexual Abuse

Abstract

Growing evidence shows that non-offending mothers experience significant loss and trauma following their child reporting experiencing sexual abuse. Maternal support offered to sexually abused children following disclosure can be a crucial factor in children's recovery. Although mothers are often seen as playing a central role in facilitating the recovery of their sexually abused child, there has been little focus on their own needs and profiles. This present study aimed to increase our understanding of the diversity of profiles of non-offending mothers of sexually abused children by exploring the differences in psychosocial traits of non-offending mothers (N = 68; age range 28-67 years) reporting higher and lower resilience. The mediating role of these psychosocial factors on the relationship between resilience and psychological distress will also be explored. Results found that non-offending mothers in the higher resilience group reported higher levels of positive reappraisal, self-compassion, social support, and significantly lower levels of psychological distress compared to non-offending mothers in the lower resilience group. Additionally, multiple mediation analysis indicated positive reappraisal, self-compassion, and social support to be significant mediators of the relationship between resilience and psychological distress. Increased levels of self-compassion and social support were found to be predictive of lowered psychological distress, while increased positive reappraisal predicted increased psychological distress. The findings of the present study provide support for the targeting of the psychosocial factors such as self-compassion, social support, and positive reappraisal in interventions for non-offending mothers in an effort to promote resilience.

Non-abusing mothers’ agency after disclosure of the child’s extra-familial sexual abuse

“…As seen above, Esin’s relatives met her need of support whereas Seda’s seemed not to understand her situation despite knowing that she was divorced and the sole breadwinner. Various studies have emphasised mothers’ crucial need of support after CSA disclosure (Kocturk and Bilginer, 2019; McGillivray et al, 2018; Serin, 2018). Plummer (2006) found that mothers receiving more support were able to take significantly more protective actions towards their children than those receiving less support.…”

“…However, research on women’s agency in relation to child sexual abuse is scarce. To improve the quality of the social support network, as recently called for in the CSA literature (see McGillivray et al, 2018; Serin, 2018) mothers’ agency needs to be studied in relation to mothers’ interaction with family members, friends and professionals.…”

Gendered Attributions of Blame and Failure to Protect in Child Welfare Responses to Sexual Abuse: A Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis

“…Women's resilience can be strengthened with supportive interventions that target needs both related to and independent of the mothering role, and bolster self-compassion, constructive coping, and social networks ( McGillivray et al, 2018 ; Serin, 2018 ). An affirming worker–mother relationship, as evident in the negative case analysis, is a potent channel through which children can be better protected.…”

Validation d’une échelle de résilience (CD-RISC 10) auprès de mères d’enfants victimes d’agression sexuelle

“…D'autres facteurs peuvent s'ajouter à la résilience et jouer un rôle sur les symptômes de la mère. En effet, le soutien social, la réévaluation positive et l'autocompassion seraient des médiateurs de la relation entre la résilience des mères d'enfants victimes d'agression sexuelle et leur détresse psychologique (McGillivray et al, 2018). Une mère résiliente ayant un haut niveau de ces trois facteurs aurait moins de détresse psychologique qu'une mère non résiliente ou une mère résiliente ayant un faible niveau de soutien social, d'autocompassion et de réévaluation positive.…”