Breaking Cycles of Trauma: Learning from Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse and Their Kin

Background and Purpose: Incidence rates of child sexual abuse (CSA) in the U.S. currently rest at 7%, however, when examining prevalence rates, which include retrospective reporting, CSA rates in the U.S. range from approximately 15%-32% for females and 5%-16% for males. Children born to mothers who experienced CSA are 3.6 times more likely to also experience CSA and have a greater chance of entering the child welfare system compared to children whose mothers did not experience CSA. Intergenerational studies examining how CSA impacts mothers and daughters have long established the plethora of negative effects CSA has on individuals and the family unit. Breaking the intergenerational cycle of CSA is difficult, yet not impossible. Studies highlighting how parents grow and learn from these experiences remain sparse, and studies including transition age youth (18-25 years old) are even less common. A Posttraumatic Growth (PTG) framework, rooted in meaning making, explains how survivors survive and thrive following traumatic experience. Using a PTG framework this intergenerational study explored how mothers who survived CSA prevented their daughters from also experiencing CSA and ultimately avoided child welfare involvement from both mother and daughter perspectives.

Methods: This dyadic qualitative study utilized Narrative Inquiry to explore how a mother’s CSA experience impacted her parenting practices, and the relationship between mother and daughter. Participants (n=12; 6 mothers/parents and 6 daughters/offspring) completed two 60–90-minute interviews. Data were analyzed using an analysis of narratives approach, finding similar themes representing the stories shared. Narrative analysis differs from other qualitative approaches by focusing on components unique to narratives including plots, characters, and sequencing of stories. Data were analyzed separately for mothers and daughters. Themes were identified across interviews and placed into temporal order; past, present, and future thinking.

Results: Themes representing mothers' stories centered on learning from their past experiences (anti-parented, creating a family, protection); their present (pride, relational transformation); and their future thinking and hopes for other parents who survived CSA (communication, relational education). Themes found among daughters included reflecting on their childhood/past (protection, just the two of us, navigating child welfare); their present (tell me everything, relational transformation); and future hope for other families (communication, relational education).

Conclusions and Implications: Results indicate that mothers who experienced CSA learned various strategies of protection following their CSA experience. Additionally, compared to their relationships with their parents, mothers reported creating a different relationship with their daughters. Among mothers who experienced CSA, previous research has highlighted their protective nature and the emotional closeness with their children. However, this is the first known study that includes transition age youth voices to corroborate those findings. This sample did not have formal child welfare involvement despite existing literature showing an increased rate of child welfare involvement for the 2^nd generation born to mothers who experienced CSA. Including voices of parents who are able to break cycles of trauma could benefit future policy and practice guidance. Future work should investigate how parents with severe trauma experience break cycles of trauma and avoid child welfare involvement.