Stress reactions and PTSD of sexually abused children and their parents

Abstract

The literature shows that sexually abused children develop stress and PTSD (Hornor, 2009). Furthermore, Pretorius, Chauk:e and Morgan (2011) stated that parents of sexually abused children develop stress and PTSD. According to attachment theory, children with close attachment to their parents respond better to anxiety provoking stimulus (Bretherton, 1992). Stitt and Gibbs (2007) believe that very few studies have been conducted on parental reaction after child sexual abuse. This study investigates stress reactions and PTSD of sexually abused children and their parents. The aim of the study was to investigate stress reactions and PTSD of sexually abused children and compare it with non-abused children. It also compared stress and PTSD of parents of sexually abused children and parents of non-abused children. In addition, it investigated the influence of emotional distance, age and gender on stress reaction and PTSD of sexually abused children and their parents. A cross-sectional research design was used for this study. One hundred and sixty-four participants were selected using purposive sampling. Thirty-nine sexually abused children (male= 5, female= 34) and thirty-nine of their parents (male= 7, female= 32) were selected from Thuthuzela Care Centre at Mankweng hospital in Limpopo Province, South Africa. In comparison, forty-three non-abused children (male= 8, female= 35) and forty-three of their parents (male= 6, female= 37) were selected from Mountain View Secondary School in Limpopo, South Africa. The age of children participants ranged between 7 and 18 years, with mean age (x= 12.9 years, SD= 4.12). A questionnaire with subsections A and B was used to collect data: Section A contained Stress Perception Scale and the Post traumatic Stress Disorder Checklist. Section B consists of the following scales:Depression Self-Rating Scale for Children, Parent-Child Relationship Survey Scale and Child Behaviour Checklist Post Traumatic Stress Disorder scale.Psychometric properties of all the scales used are valid and reliable. Four hypotheses were stated for the study: Hypothesis one stated that there would be a significant difference on stress and PTSD between sexually abused children and non-sexually abused children. Hypothesis two stated that there would be a significant difference on stress and PTSD between parents of sexually abused children and parents of non-sexually abused children. Hypothesis three stated that there would be a significant independent and joint influence of emotional distance, age and gender on stress and PTSD of sexually abused children. Finally, the fourth hypothesis stated that there would be a significant independent and joint influence of age and gender on stress and PTSD of parents of sexually abused children.The first two hypotheses were tested with at- test and the final two were tested with multiple regression analysis. The results of the study indicate that there is a significant main effect for stress (t = (73) = 2.041, p< .05) with sexually abused children scoring higher (x= 35.94) than non-abused (x= 34.2) and PTSD (t = (73) = 4.408, p< .01) with sexually abused children scoring higher (x= 12.10) than non-abused children (x= 8.27). The study also indicates that there is a significant main effect for stress (t = (73) = 1.823, p< .05) with parents of sexually abused children scoring higher (x= 23.14) than parents non-abused children (x= 21.02) and PTSD(t = (60) = 4.849, p< .01) with parents of sexually abused children scoring higher (x= 52. 77) than parents of non-abused children (x= 36.31) respectively. Further results showed that emotional distance, age and gender did not have significant joint influence on stress (R= .32, R2= .10, P> .05) and PTSD (R= .31, R2= .09, P> .05) of sexually abused children. Emotional distance (P= -.23), age (~= .16) and gender (~= - .28) did not independently predict stress. Similarly, emotional distance (P= -.25), age(~= .22) and gender (P= -.09) did not independently predict PTSD. Finally, age and gender did not have significant joint influence on stress (R= .08, R2= .01 , P> .05) and PTSD (R= .07, R2= .01, P> .05) of parents of sexually abused children. Age(~= .07) and gender (P= -.06) did not independently predict stress. Similarly, age (~= .06) and gender (P= .02) did not independently predict PTSD. Based on the findings of the study, it is recommended that parentsof sexually abused children be provided with psychotherapy .