University of Missouri-St. Louis, USA.
J Interpers Violence. 2021 Oct;36(19-20):9077-9099. doi: 10.1177/0886260519863726. Epub 2019 Jul 26.
Despite an emphasis on coping following childhood sexual abuse (CSA) to reduce trauma-related symptoms, very few studies have researched the associations between sexually abused children's coping and trauma-related difficulties, and perceived coping efficacy has been largely overlooked. The current study investigated whether children's use and perceived efficacy of avoidant, internalized, angry, and active/social coping strategies were associated with caregiver- and child-reported posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS), and caregiver-reported internalizing and externalizing symptoms among 202 sexually abused children (8-12 years; = 10.47 years, = 1.70 years). Children reported using approximately eight types of coping strategies ( = 8.29, =2.50). Regression models indicated that internalized and angry coping were associated with child-reported PTSS. In contrast to expectations, none of the types of coping strategies were linked with caregiver's reports of PTSS or internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Interestingly, perceived efficacy of coping was largely unrelated to symptoms, with only perceived efficacy of avoidant coping inversely related to child-reported PTSS. Perceived efficacy was not tied to caregiver's reports of children's symptoms. Coping strategies may be associated with children's, but not caregiver's, reports of children's trauma-related difficulties. Furthermore, perceived efficacy of coping strategies may also be largely unrelated to children's symptoms, or children may have limited insight regarding the efficacy of their coping strategies. To further inform trauma-focused interventions that support effective long-term coping, future research should investigate which coping strategies children perceive to be efficacious, as well as potential reasons why.
尽管强调了儿童性虐待（CSA）后的应对方式，以减轻与创伤相关的症状，但很少有研究研究了性虐待儿童的应对方式与与创伤相关的困难之间的关系，而且感知应对效能在很大程度上被忽视了。本研究调查了儿童回避、内化、愤怒和积极/社交应对策略的使用和感知效能是否与照顾者和儿童报告的创伤后应激症状（PTSS）以及照顾者报告的内化和外化症状有关，共有 202 名性虐待儿童（8-12 岁； = 10.47 岁， = 1.70 岁）参与了研究。儿童报告使用了大约八种应对策略（ = 8.29， =2.50）。回归模型表明，内化和愤怒应对方式与儿童报告的 PTSS 有关。与预期相反，没有一种应对策略与照顾者报告的 PTSS 或内化和外化症状有关。有趣的是，应对效能的感知与症状的关系不大，只有回避应对效能的感知与儿童报告的 PTSS 呈负相关。应对效能与照顾者报告的儿童症状无关。应对策略可能与儿童有关，但与照顾者报告的儿童创伤相关困难无关。此外，应对策略的感知效能也可能与儿童的症状关系不大，或者儿童可能对自己的应对策略的有效性缺乏洞察力。为了进一步为支持有效长期应对的以创伤为中心的干预措施提供信息，未来的研究应该调查儿童认为哪些应对策略有效，以及可能的原因。
