Daughter's Perceptions of Being Mothered by an Incest Survivor: A Phenomenological Study

ABSTRACT

This article presents the results of a qualitative analysis of the experience of being the daughter of an incest survivor using a phenomenological approach to the narratives of six women. The majority of the daughters identified a number of effects of their mother's abuse that they perceived as harmful as a child and that lasted into adulthood. Most perceived their mothers as failing to grow up. The daughters responded with a lack of affection toward their mothers, complications in differentiation and integration of a negative self-view. Even in adulthood, the daughters reported a number of characteristics that are normally associated with being a victim of sexual abuse, despite the fact that only two of the six had been so abused. The mother's ultimate disclosure of her incest history helped the daughter to offset these difficulties. The clinical implications of these findings are outlined.

KEYWORDS:

• Second-generation effects
• mothering
• parenting
• child abuse
• adults molested as children