Examining the relationship between a childhood history of sexual abuse and later dissociation, breast-feeding practices, and parenting anxiety.
The purpose of this study is to compare Mexican American adolescent mothers with and without childhood sexual abuse (CSA) histories to examine the influence of CSA on dissociation, selection of infant feeding method, and intimate parenting anxiety. Participants are 78 English-speaking adolescents between 15 and 19 years of age and recruited from the southwestern United States. Nearly one third of the sample ( n = 24, 30.77%) reports CSA histories. There is no correlation between CSA history and intimate parenting anxiety, no difference between breast-feeding and formula-feeding mothers in CSA severity, and intimate parenting anxiety does not predict dissociation. These findings are inconsistent with previous research. Supportive resources may explain the inconsistency and play a role in adolescent mothers' responses to CSA. Further research is necessary to explore these possibilities.
Bowman
Katherine Gail
KG
University of Texas at Austin School of Nursing, Austin, TX 78701-1499, USA. kbowman@mail.nur.utexas.edu
Ryberg
Jacalyn Wickline
JW
Becker
Heather
H
D000293:Adolescent; D054523:Adult Survivors of Child Abuse / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001942:Breast Feeding / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology*; D015984:Causality; D004213:Dissociative Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008425:Maternal Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D017058:Mexican Americans / Q000523:psychology*; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology*; D012044:Regression Analysis; D015206:Southwestern United States; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult