NCJ Number
165343
Journal
Child Abuse and Neglect Volume: 21 Issue: 2 Dated: (February 1997) Pages: 211-226
Date Published
1997
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This study used structural equation modeling (SEM) to examine whether coping efforts and social support mediate the long-term sequelae of child maltreatment.
Abstract
Having identified a sample of 191 women and 110 men who reported physical or sexual abuse as children, the authors interviewed them to determine how they had coped with the experience. The authors used Burt and Katz's five-factor model, which was derived from the study of adult rape victims. The coping styles identified were anxious, cognitive, expressive, and self-destructive. The study used a statistical method that tested the salience of a hypothesized model that describes the connection between child maltreatment and later psychological outcome. Coping and social support were entered into this model, and the statistical relevance of the theory was tested. In this way, other factors that have the potential to alter outcome could be examined, such as the severity of the abuse. Out of the five coping styles, three factors accounted for most of the mediating influence between abuse and psychological outcome. These were factors described by the authors as expressive/cognitive, avoidance, and self-destruction. The first factor was a positive mediating influence, and the latter two were linked with more negative psychological outcomes. Social support from friends and family was also associated with outcome. The authors advise that social support and coping style are connected. Thus, those children and young adults who are capable of an expressive and positive cognitive response to the average experience of abuse are also the ones who are able to seek out social support and make use of it when it is available. 1 figure, 3 tables, and 66 references