Biomaterial Database

Sexually abused and nonabused mothers' discussions about sex and their children's sexual knowledge. 1995

M Grocke, and M Smith, and P Graham

Department of Child Psychiatry, Institute of Child Health, University of London, UK.

This study investigated the impact of a mother's experience of childhood sexual abuse on her discussion of sex with her child. Two groups of sexually abused and nonabused mothers, drawn from a larger community sample and matched for social class and the sex and age of their index children, were asked about discussion of sexual information within their family. Children were interviewed about their sexual knowledge. Significantly more mothers who reported an incident of sexual abuse during their childhood said that they had detailed discussions with their child about sexual development and contraception than mothers who reported no childhood incidence of abuse. Although there was no difference between the two groups in independent interviewers' ratings of the children's overall sexual knowledge, more children from the abused mothers' group mentioned their parents as a definite source of sexual information, in particular, regarding contraception. There were also differences between the two groups in the children's responses to a set of ambiguous pictures. More children in the abused mothers' group than the nonabused group gave stories related to child abductions and the possibility of sexual abuse in response to two of the pictures. A mothers' willingness to acknowledge childhood sexual abuse is related to more open discussion of sexual information within the family.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D007722	Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice	Knowledge, attitudes, and associated behaviors which pertain to health-related topics such as PATHOLOGIC PROCESSES or diseases, their prevention, and treatment. This term refers to non-health workers and health workers (HEALTH PERSONNEL).	Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
D008297	Male		Males
D009034	Mother-Child Relations	Interaction between a mother and child.	Mother-Child Interaction,Mother-Child Relationship,Mother-Infant Interaction,Mother-Infant Relations,Interaction, Mother-Child,Interaction, Mother-Infant,Interactions, Mother-Child,Interactions, Mother-Infant,Mother Child Interaction,Mother Child Relations,Mother Child Relationship,Mother Infant Interaction,Mother Infant Relations,Mother-Child Interactions,Mother-Child Relation,Mother-Child Relationships,Mother-Infant Interactions,Mother-Infant Relation,Relation, Mother-Child,Relation, Mother-Infant,Relations, Mother-Child,Relations, Mother-Infant,Relationship, Mother-Child,Relationships, Mother-Child
D009035	Mothers	Female parents, human or animal.	Mothers' Clubs,Club, Mothers',Clubs, Mothers',Mother,Mother Clubs,Mother's Clubs,Mothers Clubs,Mothers' Club
D011386	Projective Techniques	Techniques to reveal personality attributes by responses to relatively unstructured or ambiguous stimuli.	Picture Frustration Study,Rosenzweig Picture-Frustration Study,Szondi Test,Projective Technics,Psychodynamic Assessment,Psychosomatic Assessment,Rosenzweig Picture Frustration Study,Assessment, Psychodynamic,Assessment, Psychosomatic,Assessments, Psychodynamic,Assessments, Psychosomatic,Frustration Study, Picture,Projective Technic,Projective Technique,Psychodynamic Assessments,Psychosomatic Assessments,Study, Picture Frustration,Study, Rosenzweig Picture-Frustration,Technic, Projective,Technics, Projective,Technique, Projective,Techniques, Projective,Test, Szondi
D011606	Psychosexual Development	The stages of development of the psychological aspects of sexuality from birth to adulthood; i.e., oral, anal, genital, and latent periods.	Anal Stage,Phallic Stage,Anal Stages,Development, Psychosexual,Developments, Psychosexual,Phallic Stages,Psychosexual Developments,Stage, Anal,Stage, Phallic,Stages, Anal,Stages, Phallic
D012016	Reference Values	The range or frequency distribution of a measurement in a population (of organisms, organs or things) that has not been selected for the presence of disease or abnormality.	Normal Range,Normal Values,Reference Ranges,Normal Ranges,Normal Value,Range, Normal,Range, Reference,Ranges, Normal,Ranges, Reference,Reference Range,Reference Value,Value, Normal,Value, Reference,Values, Normal,Values, Reference
D002648	Child	A person 6 to 12 years of age. An individual 2 to 5 years old is CHILD, PRESCHOOL.	Children
D002650	Child Abuse, Sexual	Sexual maltreatment of the child or minor.	Child Molestation,Child Molestation, Sexual,Molestation, Sexual, Child,Sexual Abuse of Child,Sexual Abuse, Child,Abuse, Child Sexual,Child Sexual Abuse,Molestation, Child,Sexual Child Abuse,Sexual Child Molestation
D002675	Child, Preschool	A child between the ages of 2 and 5.	Children, Preschool,Preschool Child,Preschool Children