A history of abuse in mothers is a predictor of sexual abuse in children?

Abstract

Introduction: Mothers of sexually abused children have a complex role both in the event of abuse and in its psychological treatment.

Objective: to establish a relationship between childhood sexual abuse across the generations, we explored the key issues in the mother's history and related it to the children.

Method: A questionnaire was answered by two groups of mothers; those with sexually abused children and those not. The study describes the characteristics of abuse in both mother and child.

Results: The mothers of sexually abused children had suffered abuse as children in comparison with mothers of non abused children.

Conclusions: There exists a relation between mothers reportedly sexually abused during childhood and the abuse of their child. This need further investigation to explore factors involved in this relationship and the possible association with parental capacities.