Parent-child agreement on reports of child internalizing and externalizing symptoms: Family processes in the context of child sexual abuse
Abstract
The present study examined parent-child agreement on reports of child
psychological symptoms after the disclosure of sexual abuse in a sample of 98 child
survivors of sexual abuse, ages 8-12 years, referred for clinical treatment. Independent
paired t-tests showed parents reported more internalizing (i.e., anxiety, depression) and
externalizing (i.e., anger/aggression) symptoms than their children. Latent congruency
modeling showed that family conflict moderated parent and child reports of the child’s
anger/aggression such that children reported more of these symptoms when family
conflict was high. Additionally, parents reported more anger/aggression symptoms for
girls than boys when family conflict was high. Children reported more anxiety symptoms
than their parents when non-supportive disclosure was high, with girls reporting more
anxiety symptoms than boys. The information provided in this study may help to inform
the training process for children’s advocacy centers in providing more effective
advocacy, medical evaluation and treatment, and therapeutic intervention for child
survivors of sexual abuse and their families.
Description
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Article
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Keywords
supportive caregivers, child sexual abuse, symptoms
Citation
Huey, C. C. (2017). Parent-child agreement on reports of child internalizing and externalizing symptoms: Family processes in the context of child sexual abuse (Doctoral dissertation).