NCJ Number
215373
Journal
Journal of Child Sexual Abuse Volume: 15 Issue: 2 Dated: 2006 Pages: 103-122
Date Published
2006
Length
20 pages
Annotation
This study explored the role of rumination in the emotional and behavioral outcomes of non-abusive women following the discovery of the sexual abuse of their children.
Abstract
Results indicated that rumination was significantly related to a mother’s history of child abuse and the level of stressors in her life. Rumination also mediated the relationships between the predictors (history of child abuse and life stress) and each maternal emotional and behavioral outcome. Overall, the findings reveal the importance of rumination to understanding maternal outcomes subsequent to the discovery of child sexual abuse. The findings have implications for intervention and treatment strategies and suggest that interventions focus less on the abuse dynamics, mother’s history of abuse, and other stress factors and focus more on strategies to reduce rumination. Participants were 125 non-abusive mothers of children who had been sexually abused who were recruited from 3 clinical settings through the use of posters, flyers, and announcements. Participants completed a series of questionnaires measuring rumination, abuse severity, mother’s childhood abuse, life stressors, negative affect, and externalizing anger. Statistical data analysis included the use of multiple regressions. Follow-up research could measure score changes over time as mother’s adjust and cope. Tables, references