I. Klein et R. Janoffbulman, TRAUMA HISTORY AND PERSONAL NARRATIVES - SOME CLUES TO COPING AMONG SURVIVORS OF CHILD-ABUSE, Child abuse & neglect, 20(1), 1996, pp. 45-54
Narrative features of the life stories of child abuse survivors and no
nvictimized respondents were compared. Particular emphasis was placed
on relatively ''objective'' features, given that the content of the na
rrative typically precluded blind coding. The research focused on both
the relative emphasis on the past versus present and future and on th
e self versus others in respondents' stories. The narratives of child
abuse survivors differed from the comparison group on both of these fe
atures; their stories focused more on the past and de-emphasized the c
entral role of the self. Greater emphasis on others was the best predi
ctor of poor present coping among child abuse survivors. The narrative
s of a second sample of respondents who reported having experienced tr
aumatic parental divorce were studied for comparison purposes. Despite
some similarities in narrative construction, the increased emphasis o
n others, with its maladaptive associations, was unique to child abuse
survivors.