Mothers' perceptions of incest: sustained disruption and turmoil

Eleven mothers whose daughters had allegedly been sexually abused by the father or father figure were interviewed to evaluate their perceptions of the sexual abuse. Subjects were obtained from a caseload of a county Department of Family and Child Protective Services. Ages ranged from 5 to 17 years and both black and white children were represented. Content analysis was used to analyze the data and revealed that the mothers in the sample continued to experience turmoil in their lives long after disclosure of the abuse occurred. These mothers were unable to consistently protect their daughters or reconstruct their family lives after the incest was disclosed.