The Impact of Childhood Sexual Abuse and Other Forms of Childhood Adversity on Adulthood Parenting

Abstract

This study investigated the independent impact of child sexual abuse on five dimensions of adulthood parenting after controlling for other forms of childhood adversity in a predominantly African-American sample of mothers receiving public assistance (N = 483). An analysis of data previously collected as part of the Illinois Families Study Child Well-Being Supplement was conducted to address these questions. Data were analyzed using hierarchal multiple regression. Childhood sexual abuse survivors reported significantly lower rates of parental warmth, higher rates of psychological aggression, and more frequent use of corporal punishment than mothers who had not experienced childhood sexual abuse. These effects, however, were nonsignificant when sociodemographic factors and other forms of childhood adversity were considered. Implications for future research are provided.

KEYWORDS:

• childhood sexual abuse
• child abuse and neglect
• parenting
• motherhood
• African-American women

The Illinois Families Study and the Illinois Families Study Child Well-Being Supplement were supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Joyce Foundation, the Woods Fund of Chicago, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01 HD39148 and K01 HD41703), the U.S. Department of Education, and the Administration for Children and Families (90PA0005). Administrative data linkages were developed by the Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago, and survey data were collected by the Metro Chicago Information Center (MCIC). The author would like to acknowledge Kristen Slack, Joy Newmann, Sherrill Sellers, Mariamne Whatley, and Lawrence Berger from the University of Wisconsin, Madison for their comments and support on this project. The author would also like to thank the three anonymous reviewers of the JCSA Editorial Board for their helpful comments.

Notes

Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, Pub. L. No.104–193 (1996).