Responses to Childhood Maltreatment: Delinquency, Alcohol and Drug Use, and Other Coping Strategies

• NCJ Number: 140512
• Author(s): K M Heide; E P Solomon
• Date Published: 1992
• Length: 45 pages
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Paper prepared for the 44th annual meeting of the American Society of Criminology held in New Orleans, La., in November 1992.

Annotation

This study examined the types of coping strategies female children and adolescents develop to help them survive as they grow up in an abusive family environment.

Abstract

Study subjects were 40 women who were survivors of childhood abuse and 199 female undergraduate students. The instrument used in the study was the SCS survey developed by the authors, which consists of 246 items designed to measure abuse and coping strategies in response to abuse. Sixty-five percent of the survivor sample reported a family history of substance abuse, compared to 24 percent of the student sample. Sixty percent of the survivors reported that a parent hurt, attempted to hurt, or threatened to hurt another parent physically. In contrast, 20 percent of the student sample reported such physical intimidation between their parents. Regarding coping strategies, a higher percentage of survivors reported they used alcohol, drugs, and food as coping strategies prior to age 18. Survivors were more likely to get in trouble in school and with the law than the control group. Relative to the student sample, the survivors were far more likely to be amnesic for large parts of their childhood; dissociation was often used as a coping strategy. Preliminary results indicate that parricidal thoughts are common among abuse victims. Implications are drawn for future research. 16 references and 14 tables