Mother-Daughter Sexual Communication: Differences by Maternal Sexual Victimization History.
Women who experience childhood sexual victimization (CSV) report more problems with sexuality and with parenting during adulthood. Consequently, mothers with a CSV history may have particular difficulty with parent-child sexual communication. We examine this possibility in 184 diverse, low-income mother-adolescent daughter dyads. Mothers and daughters reported on the frequency, tone, and comfort of their sexual communication. Using dyadic approaches to analyses, we tested whether mothers' and daughters' reports, and their level of agreement, differ by maternal CSV history. In dyads with maternal CSV, daughters reported more frequent communication in which they felt less embarrassed, and they perceived their mothers as less embarrassed. Mothers with a CSV history were also more accurate in judging how their daughters feel during sexual communication. Although CSV is associated with many negative outcomes, our results suggest mothers with CSV may approach mother-daughter sexual communication in ways that could reduce sexual risk in offspring.
['Wortel|Sanne N|SN|', 'Milan|Stephanie|S|']
D000293:Adolescent D000328:Adult D003142:Communication D019548:Crime Victims D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies D005260:Female D006801:Humans D008875:Middle Aged D009034:Mother-Child Relations D012742:Sex Offenses D012959:Socioeconomic Factors
sexual communication childhood sexual victimization childhood sexual abuse