NCJ Number
165029
Journal
Child Abuse and Neglect Volume: 20 Issue: 11 Dated: (November 1996) Pages: 1123-1132
Date Published
1996
Length
10 pages
Annotation
The hypothesis that dissociative process is the mechanism that accounts for the transmission of child abuse across generations was tested using data from a group of 14 mothers who were abused and also maltreated their children and another group of 10 mothers who broke the cycle of abuse.
Abstract
The participants were all involved in the University of Minnesota Mother-Child Project, a prospective longitudinal study of families at risk for child maltreatment. Results revealed that mothers who were abused as children and are abusing their children were rated higher on idealization, inconsistency, and escapism in their description of their childhoods; they also scored higher on the Dissociative Experience Scale compared to mothers who broke the cycle. In addition, mothers who were abused and abused their children recalled the care they received as children in a fragmented and disconnected fashion, whereas those who broke the cycle integrated their abusive experience into a more coherent view of self. Large differences were found even after accounting for the effects of IQ; these findings indicated that dissociative process has a part in the transmission of maltreatment across generations. Table and 35 references (Author abstract modified)