Sammut-Scerri Clarissa, Vetere Arlene
Department of Child and Family Studies, Faculty for Social Wellbeing, University of Malta, MSD 2080 Msida, Malta.
Faculty of Social Studies, Vid Specialised University, P.O. Box 184, Vinderen, 0319 Oslo, Norway.
Behav Sci (Basel). 2024 Apr 16;14(4):333. doi: 10.3390/bs14040333.
Most of the literature that has looked at children's relationships with their parents in the domestic violence context has focused solely on the children's relationship with one parent or is studied from the perspective of one parent, usually the mother. Sibling relationships in the same context are also under-studied. This paper explores in more detail the complexity of children's relationships with their mothers, fathers, and siblings over time from the perspective of adult women and survivors of childhood domestic violence. Methods: A grounded theory methodology was used to analyse the interviews with 15 women aged twenty to forty-three years of age living in Malta. Results: the analysis showed that the domestic violence context remains significant in these important relationships for these women. The relationship with the father remains strongly influenced by the dynamics of fear, love, and retaliation, with cycles of cut-off and connection from the adult daughter's end. The relationship with the mother is complicated-feelings of love that are seen as having been limited and complicated by betrayal if there was abuse from the mother. Similarly, for the siblings, the roles of the early family of origin remain persistent and significant. However, in some of these relationships, there has been transformation, reconciliation, and forgiveness. The article offers implications for therapeutic practice for dealing with the complexity of these relationships and ideas for future research.
大多数在家庭暴力背景下研究儿童与父母关系的文献都只关注儿童与一方父母的关系，或者是从一方父母（通常是母亲）的角度进行研究。在相同背景下的兄弟姐妹关系也未得到充分研究。本文从成年女性以及童年家庭暴力幸存者的角度，更详细地探讨了随着时间推移，儿童与母亲、父亲及兄弟姐妹关系的复杂性。方法：采用扎根理论方法分析了对居住在马耳他的15名年龄在20至43岁之间的女性的访谈。结果：分析表明，家庭暴力背景在这些女性的这些重要关系中仍然具有重要意义。与父亲的关系仍然受到恐惧、爱和报复等动态因素的强烈影响，成年女儿一方存在断绝和联系的循环。与母亲的关系很复杂——如果母亲存在虐待行为，爱会被视为因背叛而受到限制和复杂化。同样，对于兄弟姐妹来说，原生家庭早期的角色仍然持续且重要。然而，在其中一些关系中，已经发生了转变、和解与宽恕。本文为处理这些关系的复杂性提供了治疗实践方面的启示以及未来研究的思路。
