MOTHERS POTENTIAL FOR CHILD-ABUSE - THE ROLES OF CHILDHOOD ABUSE AND SOCIAL RESOURCES

Background: The mechanism by which some victims of childhood abuse bec ome abusive parents, whereas others do not, is not well understood. Pr evious empirical evidence indicates that social resources may modify t he cycle of abuse or maladaptive parenting; however, the effects of di fferent dimensions of social resources have not been compared. Objecti ves: To determine whether a measure of mothers' potential for physical child abuse was related to their retrospective reports of physical an d sexual abuse before 18 years of age and to investigate the potential buffering effects of multiple dimensions of social resources on the r elationship between childhood abuse and mothers' potential for physica l child abuse. Methods: The potential role of social resources as a mo derator of the relationship between a history of childhood abuse and p otential for physical child abuse was investigated in 206 low-income s ingle mothers of young children. Results: The levels of physical and s exual abuse in childhood were positively associated with the mothers' child abuse potential; sexual abuse displayed the strongest associatio n. Compared with mothers who were not sexually abused in childhood, th ose reporting violent sexual abuse as children were almost six times m ore likely to have high potential for physically abusing their childre n. There was no evidence that any of the social resources modified the relationship of either type of childhood abuse with the mothers' pote ntial for abuse. However, all four dimensions of social resources demo nstrated significant main effects on child abuse potential. Conclusion s: Low-income mothers face many stressors because of their lack of eco nomic resources. This, coupled with a lack of social resources and a h istory of childhood abuse, makes low-income, single mothers particular ly at risk for abusive parenting. The lives of these women and their c hildren may be enhanced by assisting the women to improve their social resources which, ultimately, may reduce their potential for child abu se. Future research should focus on identifying factors that predict a nd/or modify the potential for abusive parenting as well as actual abu se.