Date of Award

Summer 8-18-2010

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Lisa Armistead, PhD

Second Advisor

Leslie Jackson, PhD

Third Advisor

Frank Floyd, PhD

Fourth Advisor

Page Anderson, PhD

Fifth Advisor

Patricia Thompson, PhD

Abstract

Few studies have been conducted to determine relationships between maternal childhood sexual abuse (CSA) history and parenting practices. Furthermore, no studies have attempted to understand how cultural coping methods dynamically impact the relationship between maternal CSA history and parenting outcomes. The purpose of this study is to understand if maternal coping mediates the relation between maternal CSA history and mother-daughter relational outcomes in a sample of African American mothers. The Strong Black Woman (SBW) Cultural Coping Scale, which consists of caretaking, affect regulation, and self-reliance factors, was used to represent maternal coping, and the Parent-Child Relationship Questionnaire (PCRQ) was used to assess warmth, personal relationship, possessiveness, and power assertion. Results showed that maternal CSA history was significantly related to SBW Cultural Coping total scores in the positive direction (i.e., mothers with CSA history reported higher scores). Mediation and indirect effects analyses revealed maternal CSA history was associated with mother-daughter possessiveness and power assertion through SBW Cultural Coping total scores. Additional analyses revealed a significant relation between maternal CSA history and subscales of the SBW, specifically caretaking and self-reliance. The meditational analyses, utilizing SBW subscale scores, revealed significant relations between maternal CSA and maternal warmth in the inverse direction via SBW caretaking, CSA and possessiveness in the positive direction via SBW self-reliance, and CSA and power assertion in the positive direction via both SBW caretaking and self-reliance factors. The results of this study highlight that specific types of trauma (i.e., CSA) can have significant implications for familial functioning within minority populations based on culturally-driven coping.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.57709/1396778

Included in

Psychology Commons

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