Self-Reported Depression in Mothers of Children Who Have Experienced Sexual Abuse

The Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II; A. T. Beck, R. A. Steer, & G. K. Brown, 1996) was administered to 164 biological mothers of sexually abused children to determine the psychometric characteristics of the BDI-II and to estimate the prevalence of self-reported depression in this population. The study also sought to ascertain whether the mothers’ BDI-II total scores were correlated with various psychosocial characteristics of the mothers and their children. It was found that there was only one dimension underlying the 21 BDI-II responses, and the internal consistency of the BDI-II total scores was high. Twenty-six percent of these mothers had scores indicative of clinical depression. The mothers’ BDI-II total scores were significantly correlated with their husbands’ or paramours’ having sexually abused their children and their ratings of the children’s internalizing behaviors. These results were discussed as supporting the use of the BDI-II with mothers of sexually abused children to measure self-reported depression.     

Self-Control and Child Abuse Potential in Mothers with an Abuse History and Their Preschool Children

We examined whether physically and sexually abused mothers display lower levels of self-control, whether this explains their higher tendency to abuse their own children, and if this results in lower levels of self-control among their children. In a cross-sectional study, 40 abused and 47 matched, non-abused mothers completed validated self-control and child abuse potential questionnaires. Their preschool children (2.3–3.7 years) were tested for self-control with the effortful control battery and delay of gratification test. Relationships and mediations were tested using stepwise regression analyses and bootstrap mediation tests, while controlling for potential confounders. Mothers with a history of abuse had a significantly higher potential to abuse their children (p < .001) and lower levels of self-control (p < .05) compared to non-abused mothers. Maternal self-control predicted child abuse potential (p < .001) while controlling for maternal history of abuse, revealing that self-control partially mediated the relation between past abuse and current abuse potential. Next, child abuse potential was found to be a borderline significant predictor of child self-control (p = .05) on the delay of gratification task but not on the effortful control battery. We did not discover a correlation between child self-control and maternal self-control. These findings suggest that self-control may be a potentially important mechanism in the intergenerational cycle of child abuse. Further investigation on the topic is needed to confirm this hypothesis, for example through investigating the impact of parental self-control training on abusive parenting and children’s self-control development. Improved child self-control measures or focusing on older children is expected to address the key limitations of the current study.     

Accuracy of Predicting a Child's Response to Potential Threat: A Comparison of Children and Their Mothers

Considerable research has indicated that children and their parents often demonstrate marked discrepancies in their reporting of anxiety-related phenomena. In such cases, the question arises as to whether children are capable of accurately reporting on their anxiety. In the present study, 50 children (aged 5 to 14 years) were asked to approach a large, German Shepherd dog. Prior to the task, both the mother and child independently predicted the closest point likely to be reached by the child and the degree of anxiety likely to be experienced. These predictions were then compared with the actual phenomena displayed by the child during the task. On the behavioural measure (closest step reached), both the child and mother demonstrated equivalent predictive accuracy. On the subjective measure (fear ratings) children were considerably more accurate than their mothers. The data were not influenced by gender, age, or clinical status. The results indicate the ability of children to accurately predict their anxious responses, and support the value of incorporating children's self-reports in the assessment of emotional disorders.     

From Compassion to Compensation: The Effect of Injury Severity on Mock Jurors' Liability Judgments1

Two studies were performed to ascertain the effect of injury severity on participants' judgments in a simulated jury task. Participants read a summary of a personal-injury case in which the severity of the plaintiffs injury was varied; they were asked to judge the defendant's liability, award compensation. and rate their feelings toward the litigants. In Study I, more severely hurt plaintiffs were more likely to obtain a favorable verdict, even though evidence of liability was held constant. Greater severity influenced liability judgments only insofar as it elicited positive feelings toward the plaintiff or negative feelings toward the defendant, In Study 2, severity was found to have no effect when participants could not award damages, suggesting that more severe injuries arouse feelings for the litigants that are associated with a motivation to alleviate the plaintiffs suffering or to punish the defendant. Strategies for reducing the extralegal influence of injury severity are discussed.     

Parallel Group Treatment of Pre-School Children and Their Mothers

Object relations concepts are applicable in children's group psychoanalytic psychotherapy. The author attempts to explore and delineate areas in which developmental conflicts in object relations, emotional deprivations, traumas, and family pathologies are recapitulated in the group, and how the manifestations of pathologies can be rectified by the process and formation of the group and the role of the therapist as a “new object” in the management of individual and group transferences. Clinical examples are presented.     

Voluntary Stigmatization and Social Comparison: Single Mothers View Their Lot1

This research examined the impact of voluntary Stigmatization, depression, and self-esteem on downward social comparisons. The stigmatized group was 51 mothers who chose to become parents as single women; 51 demographically similar married mothers were the nonstigmatized group. The women described their stressors and rated these stressors relative to other mothers of the same marital status and relative to mothers who differed in marital status. Consistent with downward comparison theory, Stigmatization increased the likelihood of making downward comparisons. Contrary to the theory, high self-esteem and low levels of depression resulted in self-enhancing comparisons, but only when individuals compared themselves to others who differed in Stigmatization status. The combination of these individual difference variables and Stigmatization increased the tendency to make downward comparisons.     

Effects of Victim and Defendant Race on Jurors' Decisions in Child Sexual Abuse Cases1

We examined the influence of victim and defendant race, victim age, juror gender, and juror prejudice on jurors' decisions in child sexual abuse cases. In Experiments 1 and 2, mock jurors judged Black and Hispanic child victims to be more responsible for their sexual abuse than White victims. In Experiment 2, jurors assigned more guilt to defendants in cases involving victims and perpetrators of the same race compared to different races. Experiment 3 illustrated that laypeople believe same‐race cases to be more plausible generally. Experiment 2 revealed that high‐prejudiced White mock jurors made no more racially biased judgments than low‐prejudiced mock jurors. Finally, women were generally more pro‐victim in their case judgments than were men, and older victims were disadvantaged compared to younger victims in terms of perceived credibility and responsibility, and their cases were less likely to draw convictions.     

Dark Side of the Mothering Role: Abuse of Mothers by Adolescent and Adult Children

Mothering is generally considered women’s major source of identity and satisfaction. But mothering can also bring misery when children develop anti-social behaviors. The rather limited literature on this topic refers to by the term “parent abuse,” with mothers reportedly the usual victims. The present study analyzed the types of abuse by adolescent and adult children reported by women in a community sample. The data come from in-depth life review interviews with 60 women aged between 40 and 65 when initially interviewed, and re-interviewed 5 years later. All women lived in the lower-income western suburbs of Sydney, Australia. Two major categories of abuse were identified: acting-out (including physical attacks and threats) and psychological. Seventy percent of perpetrators were male. Mothers’ explanations for the behavior included family dysfunction, child’s personality, child’s mental illness, social and cultural influences, and gender power imbalance. Strategies used to handle the behaviors were related to these explanations. Compared to older mothers, those aged in their 40s were likely to see the problem as belonging to the child rather than themselves, and were more proficient in accessing community services.     

Children of Incarcerated Mothers and Their Caregivers: Factors Affecting the Quality of Their Relationship

We examined the quality of the relationship between children of incarcerated mothers and their kinship caregivers, to investigate whether perceived levels of warmth and acceptance were related to assessments of the children's behaviors. The sample consisted of 69 children (6 to 12 years) with currently incarcerated mothers who attended a recreational summer camp, and 25 of their caregivers. Children who felt lower levels of warmth and acceptance from their caregivers self-reported greater internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Caregivers' warmth and acceptance toward the children was lower when they assessed the children's behavior as difficult and the caregivers' parenting stress was high.     

Risk,Resilience, and the Rorschach: A Longitudinal Study of Children Who Experienced Sexual Abuse

Experiencing sexual abuse increases the risk that children will report or otherwise demonstrate problems with emotion, behavior, and health. This longitudinal study of 44 children who experienced sexual abuse examined whether information processing as assessed via the Rorschach Inkblot Test was associated with child-reported depression symptoms assessed via the Children's Depression Inventory (Kovacs, 1992) concurrently and an average of 15 months later. Children whose Rorschach protocols were relatively free of scores suggesting intense distress, complex processing, and sexual content were more likely to experience remission of depression symptoms at follow-up. Findings provide incremental validity for certain Rorschach indexes to inform prognosis regarding depression symptoms and perhaps their treatment.     

The Attribution of Hostile Intent in Mothers,Fathers and Their Children

Child externalising symptoms are associated with a bias towards attributing hostile intent to others. We examined the role of parental attributions in the development of this hostile attribution bias in children. The parents of 134 children aged 5-7 years responded to hypothetical social scenarios examining a) their general tendency to attribute hostile intent to the ambiguous behaviour of others, and b) hostile attributions made specifically to their child. Children's own attributions of hostile intent and levels of externalising symptomatology were assessed. The results indicated that child externalising symptoms were positively associated with both a generalised tendency towards the attribution of hostile intent and child-specific hostile attributions in parents. Child externalising symptoms were themselves associated with hostile attributions made by the child. However, no direct associations were observed between parental and child attributions of hostile intent. Thus, although the results suggest a role for parental social information processing biases in the development of child externalising symptoms, a direct transmission of such biases from parent to child was not supported.     

A Solution-Focused Intervention With Recovering,Alcohol-Dependent,Single Parent Mothers and Their Children*

Described is a practical approach that encourages recovering, alcohol-dependent, single parent mothers and their children to use existing strengths and resources to promote healthy family dynamics.     

Gender Schema and Social Judgments: A Developmental Study of Children from Hong Kong

The purpose of the study was to examine inferences and judgments of gender schematic and aschematic children. Kindergarten, third grade, and sixth grade Hong Kong Chinese children (n = 196) were categorized into schematic and aschematic groups on the basis of their reaction times to gender-stereotypic and counterstereotypic items. The children were then asked to make several inferences and judgments about four male and female targets behaving gender-stereotypically or counterstereotypically. Both age and gender schematicity were related to the children's inferences. Older children and gender-schematic children relied more on individuating information and younger children relied more on the gender label. The results are discussed within the framework of gender-schema theories.     

A Comparison of Parent Judgments and Child Feelings concerning the Self Adjustment and Social Adjustment of Twelve-Year-Old Children

The purpose of this study was to consider the role of remembering in the development of the ability to plan and carry out sequences of dependent actions. A task calling for sequencing of choices was administered to 46 four-year-olds, 30 seven-year-olds, and 30 10-year-olds. Each child participated in both a remembering (control) condition and a facilitation-of-remembering condition. Performance was better in the facilitation-of-remembering condition than in the remembering (control) condition, but only for four-year-olds (p < .01), indicating that the failure to remember alternatives, rather than a lack of other cognitive abilities, may be a major obstacle in preschoolers' development of planning abilities. An apparent regression in performance of seven-year-olds (p < .01) is interpreted as an inappropriate application of transitional operative understanding of dependent events to situations involving only chance sequences.     

The Occupational Stereotypes and Expectations for Their Children Held by Mothers Representing Different Ethnic Communities in Miami1

The study focuses on the occupational expectations and aspirations that mothers, representing 5 different ethnic groups and 2 social classes, have for their children. An intergroup perspective was adopted by considering the occupational stereotypes that mothers have of the different ethnic groups, and the extent to which ethnic group membership influences hiring decisions. The results indicate that there exist very clear ethno-occupational stereotypes, and that these influence hiring decisions. However, despite wide variation in the occupational status in the stereotypes of different ethnic groups, mothers had universally high expectations for their children. The extent to which these represent optimism or false hope is addressed.     

A Comparison of Residents Who Moved Versus Those Who Remained Prior to Restart of Three Mile Island1

This study examines the importance of attitudinal and demographic variables in discriminating those residents who had moved prior to the restart of the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor in 1985 from those who remained. Findings indicate that movers and stayers were discriminated by demographic factors, age, and length of residence in the vicinity. Movers and nonmovers also differed in the interrelatedness of their attitudes pertaining to environmental threat and perceived control. Among those who left, perceived threat of radiation was associated with lack of control; among those who stayed, perceived control was related to faith in experts. This difference was related to a possible defensive adaptation to environmental threat through disassociation of sense of control from worry about environmental threat by those who remained in the area.     

A School-Based Program from Infancy to Kindergarten for Children and Their Parents

The authors present a program of service and research with preschool children that has been shown effective in providing positive preventive outcomes.     

Jurors' Decisions in Trials of Battered Women Who Kill: The Role of Prior Beliefs and Expert Testimony1

The present research explored the influence of four factors on mock jurors' decisions in a homicide trial involving a battered woman who killed her abusive husband: (a) jurors' preexisting beliefs about wife abuse, (b) the presence of expert testimony on the battered woman syndrome, (c) jurors' beliefs in a just world, and (d) gender. Mock jurors listened to a trial involving a woman who had killed her abuser, which either contained expert testimony or did not, and then rendered various judgments about the case. Results indicated that those individuals who were more informed about the dynamics of abuse and those exposed to the expert testimony, compared to their respective counterparts, were more believing of the battered woman's account of what occurred. In general, weak believers in a just world were more lenient in their judgments, with verdicts of not guilty being associated with weaker beliefs in a just world than guilty verdicts. Weak believers in a just world also felt that the expert testimony applied more to the defendant than did strong believers. Finally, women who were weak believers in a just world were less likely to hold the defendant responsible for the events and to be more informed about the dynamics of abuse following the experiment.