| This study explored the association between childhood sexual abuse and adulthood parenting in a predominantly African American community sample of mothers receiving public assistance in Illinois. This study also investigated how this relationship was altered after accounting for the impact of other forms of childhood adversity, adulthood intimate partner violence, and other adulthood factors. Because previous research in this area has failed to account for the impact of intervening variables across the lifespan on the relationship between childhood sexual abuse and adulthood parenting, this study provides a significant contribution to the literature.; The sample for this study was drawn from the Illinois Families Study Child Well-Being Supplement (IFS-CWB). The Illinois Families Study (IFS) is a large scale, panel design study of families receiving Temporary Aid for Needy Families (TANF) benefits in the post welfare reform era (n=1,363). The IFS-CWB is a five year sub-study of the IFS that explored in greater detail the experiences of parents who had a child at least three years of age or younger at the time of the initial IFS interview (n=554). The sample for the current study (n=483) included all biological or adoptive mothers who participated through Wave 2 IFS-CWB.; Finding from this study suggest that childhood sexual abuse is associated with decreased levels of parental warmth, increased levels of psychological aggression, and a higher likelihood of utilizing corporal punishment; however, these effects become insignificant when other forms of childhood adversity are considered. In contrast, childhood physical abuse, observing domestic violence, and childhood neglect all predicted at least one dimension of parenting even after a consideration of other childhood and adulthood covariates. Adulthood variables that were found to be predictive of parenting practices were: adulthood domestic violence, feeling the need for and/or receiving mental health services in the last year, current employment and/or receipt of TANF benefits, health, social support, and child welfare system involvement prior to Wave 1 IFS-CWB. These findings have important implications for understanding the long term impacts of childhood adversity on adulthood parenting and for the development of effective policies and social work interventions to promote healthy parenting practices. |
