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Assessment of coping strategies of child abusing mothers
A L Cantos1, J M Neale, K D O'Leary
1Department of Psychology, State University of New York at Stony Brook, USA.
Objective:
Mothers who had physically abused their children were assessed to determine whether these mothers had a general coping skills deficit.
Method:
Abusing mothers (n = 17) were compared to nonabusing mothers of conduct problem children (n = 16). Coping was measured by several methods, each designed to address the insufficiencies of the others.
Results:
In comparison to the nonabusing mothers, independent ratings indicated that abusing mothers exhibited a pattern of coping characterized by greater use of emotion-focused coping strategies and less use of effective problem-focused strategies. Finally, using self report ratings of coping, abusing mothers perceived their coping to be more ineffective than the nonabusing mothers.
Conclusions:
The possibility that the observed coping skills deficit may be indicative of a deficit in emotional responding to stress was discussed and suggestions were given for therapeutic interventions with child abusing mothers.