Altemeier W A, O'Connor S, Sherrod K B, Tucker D, Vietze P
Child Abuse Negl. 1986;10(3):319-30. doi: 10.1016/0145-2134(86)90007-4.
The outcome of experiencing abuse as a child was studied by comparing pregnant women who did recall versus those who did not recall this type of maltreatment. Fourteen hundred low income women were interviewed in prenatal clinic; those who said they were both punished by abuse and beaten by caretakers as children were considered abused. Abuse was recalled by more white than black women but families were followed after delivery and protective service reports of abuse for their offspring were equal. Because of low numbers, black subjects were dropped and the 95 white women who recalled abuse during childhood were compared to the remaining 832 white subjects. The groups did not differ in attitude about current pregnancy, age or marital status, and no differences were found for their children at birth. Abused mothers were more likely to have felt unwanted and unloved as children and to have lower self-images and more isolation than controls. Abused mothers had greater stress, and many of their stresses reflected disturbances in interpersonal relationships. Thus, women abused as children had some characteristics similar to those of known child abusers. Although abused women had more aggressive tendencies, their children were reported to protective services for abuse at the same frequency as control children. Intergenerational transmission of abuse was therefore not demonstrated prospectively. Classic theories of child abuse suggest a special child, special parent and stress act as independent agents to cause abuse. The above data suggest, alternatively, that abuse during childhood may lead to other risk characteristics and to greater stress. These may act together to increase risk for abuse. The special child may have an independent influence on abuse.
通过比较那些确实回忆起童年受虐经历的孕妇和那些没有回忆起此类虐待行为的孕妇，对童年遭受虐待的后果进行了研究。在产前诊所对1400名低收入女性进行了访谈；那些表示自己小时候既受到过虐待性惩罚又被照顾者殴打的女性被视为受虐者。回忆起曾受虐待的白人女性比黑人女性更多，但产后对家庭进行了跟踪，结果显示她们后代的虐待保护服务报告数量是相同的。由于样本数量较少，黑人受试者被排除，将95名回忆起童年受虐经历的白人女性与其余832名白人受试者进行了比较。两组在对当前怀孕的态度、年龄或婚姻状况方面没有差异，她们孩子出生时也没有发现差异。与对照组相比，曾受虐待的母亲在童年时更有可能感觉自己不被需要、不被爱，自我形象较低，且更加孤立。曾受虐待的母亲压力更大，她们的许多压力反映出人际关系的紊乱。因此，童年受虐的女性具有一些与已知儿童虐待者相似的特征。尽管受虐女性有更强的攻击倾向，但据报告她们的孩子因受虐而被提交给保护服务机构的频率与对照组孩子相同。因此，虐待的代际传递在前瞻性研究中未得到证实。经典的虐待儿童理论认为，特殊的孩子、特殊的父母和压力作为独立因素导致虐待行为。相反，上述数据表明，童年时期的虐待可能会导致其他风险特征和更大的压力。这些因素可能共同作用增加虐待风险。特殊的孩子可能对虐待有独立影响。
