Sexual abuse as a factor in child maltreatment by adolescent mothers of preschool aged children

Abstract

AbstractWe examined the role of a history of sexual abuse as a predictor of child maltreatment by adolescent mothers in a prospective study of 104 mother-child dyads. Mothers were interviewed about any experienced abuse, and the mother-child dyads were observed in a teaching interaction and in the Strange Situation when the children were 1 year old. Three and a half years later, the mothers were interviewed about their Child Protective Service (CPS) contacts since the birth of their children. The percentage of mothers reporting CPS contacts for their own children was 15.4%, 38.5%, and 83.3%, respectively, for those mothers with no history of sexual abuse, a history of a single incident or brief duration of sexual abuse, and those mothers with a history of chronic sexual abuse (median 24 months duration; test of increasing trend significant atp< .000009). Mothers who reported having been chronically sexually abused as children were significantly more likely to have CPS contacts for their own children, after controlling for history of physical abuse, quality of early teaching interactions, and infant attachment security (both of which also predicted CPS contacts), race, IQ, welfare status at 1 year postpartum, and history of foster care.