Assimilating the Voices of Abuse: Towards Building a Theory of Intergenerational Transmission
Experiencing any form of abuse in childhood is a significant risk factor for having a child who will also experience some form of abuse. Parents inability to psychologically integrate childhood abuse may be a contributing factor in abuse being transmitted to the next generation. In the present study, mothers who had both a history of abuse and children who had been abused were interviewed. The purpose of the study was to understand the lived experiences of women who had seen abuse pass from earlier generations and elaborate a theory to account for intergenerational transmission of childhood maltreatment, using the Assimilation Model (Stiles, 1999). The mothers narratives were analyzed and the degree to which their childhood experiences of abuse were assimilated was assessed using the Assimilation of Problematic Experiences Sequence, a developmental account of the process of assimilation.
School Location:USA - Ohio
Source Type:Master's Thesis
Keywords:assimilation abuse intergenerational transmission
Date of Publication:01/01/2008