MODERATING EFFECTS OF PHYSICAL ABUSE AND PERCEIVED SOCIAL SUPPORT ON THE POTENTIAL TO ABUSE

This study investigated the moderating effects of perceived prepuberta l social support on the relationship between prepubertal childhood phy sical abuse and child abuse potential as well as on the relationship b etween a childhood history of abuse and conflict and depth in adult re lationships. Three hundred and sixty-nine undergraduate men and women were classified as abused or nonabused based on their responses to the Childhood History Questionnaire. Multiple regression analyses reveale d interactions of social support and a childhood history of physical a buse on both the potential to abuse and the quality of participants' r elationships with their parents. Differences between abused and nonabu sed individuals were obtained only under conditions of low perceived s ocial support. When social support was perceived to be high, abused an d nonabused individuals did not differ in the potential to abuse or in the ratings of the depth of their relationships with parents. Implica tions of these findings for the intergenerational transmission of abus e are discussed.