Talking About Feelings: Mother–Child Emotion Dialogues Among Sexually Abused Children
Date
2018
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Journal of interpersonal violence
Abstract
Mother–child dialogues about children’s emotional experiences are
associated with children’s adaptive coping with stressful situations and
mental health. Despite these findings, dialogues have not been examined
yet in the context of child sexual abuse. This gap is surprising given that
mother–child dialogues may particularly promote children’s recovery from
traumatic events. The current exploratory study examined the quality of
mother–child emotion dialogues, as well as the quality of child and maternal
contributions to dialogues, among dyads with sexually abused children
(n = 30; 60% female; M age = 8.03), as compared with dyads with nonabused
children (n = 30; 60% female; M age = 8.20). Quality of dialogues was assessed
using the Autobiographical Emotional Events Dialogue. Mothers reported
on their own childhood maltreatment history and psychopathological
symptoms. Results showed that dyads with abused children were more
likely to engage in overwhelming/excessive dialogues and dialogues lacking
content, as compared with dyads with nonabused children. After controlling
for differences in background characteristics, mothers of abused children
showed lower sensitive guidance. Although mothers of abused children
had more experiences of childhood maltreatment and higher levels of
psychopathology, they did not add to explain group differences in maternal
sensitive guidance. Our findings suggest that the ability to discuss emotional
experiences may be impaired among mother–child dyads with sexually
abused children. This may be an important target in the treatment of sexually
abused children and their families.
Description
item.page.type
Article
item.page.format
Keywords
research, International Resources, Netherlands, maternal psychopathology, caregiver, child sexual abuse
Citation
van Delft, I., Finkenauer, C., De Schipper, J. C., & Lamers-Winkelman, F. (2018). Talking About Feelings: Mother–Child Emotion Dialogues Among Sexually Abused Children. Journal of interpersonal violence, 0886260518795176.