Prior childhood sexual abuse in mothers of sexually abused children.

OBJECTIVE

To see if mothers who were sexually abused in their own childhood are at increased risk of their children being sexually abused and to see if prior sexual abuse in mothers affects their parenting abilities.

METHOD

Sixty-seven mothers whose children had been sexually abused by others and 65 control mothers were asked about sexual abuse in their own childhood. The sexually abused children of mothers who had been sexually abused in their own childhood were compared with the sexually abused children of mothers who had not suffered child sexual abuse as children. Comparisons were made on self-esteem, depression and behavior in the children.

RESULTS

Thirty-four percent of mothers of sexually abused children gave a history of sexual abuse in their own childhoods, compared with 12% of control mothers. Assessment of the sexually abused children for self-esteem, depression and behavior at the time of diagnosis, after 18 months and after 5 years showed no difference in any of these measures at any of the three time intervals between those whose mothers had suffered child sexual abuse and those whose mothers had not been abused.

CONCLUSION

In this study, sexual abuse in a mother's own childhood was related to an increased risk of sexual abuse occurring in the next generation, although prior maternal sexual abuse did not effect outcome in children who were sexually abused.