152P
The Effect of Childhood Abuse on Providing Support to Aging Parents
Although studies have established important links between childhood abuse and diminished social functioning over the course of one’s life, it is rarely known whether the harmful effects of childhood abuse will interfere with intergenerational relations in later life. Drawing from the attachment perspective, the present study aims to examine the effect of childhood abuse on adult children’s provision of support to aging parents, mediated through internal working models (i.e., self-esteem and perceived relationships with others) and maladaptive coping strategies (i.e., disengagement and denial).
Methods:
This study used data from the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS II). MIDUS II was conducted between 2004 and 2006 having a sample of 4,963 respondents aged from 35 to 86. Among the MIDUS II sample, 2, 043 respondents who stated that their father or mother was still alive were selected as the final study sample. About half of the sample was female (55.16%, n=1,127) with an age range of 30-77 years (mean = 48.53, S.D. = 8.68). The majority of the respondents were white (92.5%, n=1,826), married (73.9%, n=1,510), and having a very good or excellent health status (61.0%, n=1,247).
Structural equation modeling (SEM) approach was used to test the hypothesized model that childhood abuse is associated negative internal working model and the use of maladaptive coping behaviors, which in turn decrease levels of emotional and instrumental support giving to aging parents. The model was estimated using the full-information maximum likelihood (FIML) approach in order to properly account for missing data (i.e., 84.39% (n=1,724) of the study sample provided complete data).
Results:
The results showed that childhood abuse had a direct negative relationship with emotional support giving such that the experience of childhood abuse led to less frequent emotional support giving to parents. Also, childhood abuse was significantly linked with lower levels of self-esteem and positive relations with others; those with lower levels of self-esteem and positive relations with others reported greater use of maladaptive coping involving denial and disengagement. Interestingly, maladaptive coping was positively associated with instrumental support giving whereas the direct effect of maladaptive coping on emotional support giving was not statistically significant. In the direct relationship between internal working models and intergenerational support giving, those with higher levels of self-esteem reported less frequent emotional support giving to parents. Adult children with greater levels of positive relations with others reported more frequent emotional support giving and instrumental support giving. Overall, this model fit the data well (FIML χ2 = 299.74, df = 117, p < 0.001; RMSEA = 0.028; CFI = 0.993).
Conclusions and implications:
This result suggests that histories of childhood abuse have direct and indirect effects on the levels of care provided to aging parents. Findings of this study suggest that intervention programs should focus on improving self-esteem, social relationships, and the use of effective coping behaviors for adult children with histories of childhood abuse who are involved in providing care to their aging parents.