Hall L A, Sachs B, Rayens M K
Department of Behavioral Science, College of Medicine, University of Kentucky, Lexington, USA.
Nurs Res. 1998 Mar-Apr;47(2):87-95. doi: 10.1097/00006199-199803000-00007.
The mechanism by which some victims of childhood abuse become abusive parents, whereas others do not, is not well understood. Previous empirical evidence indicates that social resources may modify the cycle of abuse or maladaptive parenting; however, the effects of different dimensions of social resources have not been compared.
To determine whether a measure of mothers' potential for physical child abuse was related to their retrospective reports of physical and sexual abuse before 18 years of age and to investigate the potential buffering effects of multiple dimensions of social resources on the relationship between childhood abuse and mothers' potential for physical child abuse.
The potential role of social resources as a moderator of the relationship between a history of childhood abuse and potential for physical child abuse was investigated in 206 low-income single mothers of young children.
The levels of physical and sexual abuse in childhood were positively associated with the mothers' child abuse potential; sexual abuse displayed the strongest association. Compared with mothers who were not sexually abused in childhood, those reporting violent sexual abuse as children were almost six times more likely to have high potential for physically abusing their children. There was no evidence that any of the social resources modified the relationship of either type of childhood abuse with the mothers' potential for abuse. However, all four dimensions of social resources demonstrated significant main effects on child abuse potential.
Low-income mothers face many stressors because of their lack of economic resources. This, coupled with a lack of social resources and a history of childhood abuse, makes low-income, single mothers particularly at risk for abusive parenting. The lives of these women and their children may be enhanced by assisting the women to improve their social resources which, ultimately, may reduce their potential for child abuse. Future research should focus on identifying factors that predict and/or modify the potential for abusive parenting as well as actual abuse.
童年期受虐的一些受害者会成为虐待子女的父母，而另一些人则不会，其背后的机制尚未完全明了。先前的实证证据表明，社会资源可能会改变虐待或适应不良养育行为的循环；然而，尚未对社会资源不同维度的影响进行比较。
确定衡量母亲对儿童身体虐待可能性的指标是否与她们18岁之前遭受身体和性虐待的回顾性报告相关，并调查社会资源多个维度对童年期虐待与母亲对儿童身体虐待可能性之间关系的潜在缓冲作用。
对206名低收入的幼儿单身母亲进行调查，研究社会资源作为童年期虐待史与对儿童身体虐待可能性之间关系调节因素的潜在作用。
童年期身体和性虐待的程度与母亲虐待儿童的可能性呈正相关；性虐待显示出最强的相关性。与童年期未遭受性虐待的母亲相比，那些报告童年期遭受暴力性虐待的母亲对自己孩子进行身体虐待的可能性几乎高出六倍。没有证据表明任何一种社会资源改变了任何一种童年期虐待与母亲虐待可能性之间的关系。然而，社会资源的所有四个维度都对虐待儿童的可能性产生了显著的主效应。
低收入母亲因缺乏经济资源而面临许多压力源。这一点，再加上缺乏社会资源和童年期受虐史，使得低收入单身母亲尤其有虐待子女的风险。通过帮助这些女性改善其社会资源，她们及其子女的生活可能会得到改善，这最终可能会降低她们虐待儿童的可能性。未来的研究应侧重于确定预测和/或改变虐待养育行为可能性以及实际虐待行为的因素。
