ASSESSMENT OF COPING STRATEGIES OF CHILD ABUSING MOTHERS

Objective: Mothers who had physically abused their children were asses sed to determine whether these mothers had a general coping skills def icit. Method: Abusing mothers (n = 17) were compared to nonabusing mot hers of conduct problem children (n = 16). Coping was measured by seve ral different methods, each designed to address the insufficiencies of the others. Results: In comparison to the nonabusing mothers, indepen dent ratings indicated that abusing mothers exhibited a pattern of cop ing characterized by greater use of emotion-focused coping strategies and less use of effective problem-focused strategies. Finally, using s elf report ratings of coping, abusing mothers perceived their coping t o be more ineffective than the nonabusing mothers. Conclusions: The po ssibility that the observed coping skills deficit may be indicative of a deficit in emotional responding to stress was discussed and suggest ions were given for therapeutic interventions with child abusing mothe rs. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.