Poster #68 - Does social support moderate the relationship between childhood sexual abuse and impulsivity in parents?

• In Event: Poster Session 18

Abstract

Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) is defined as the involvement of a child in any sexual activity that they are not developmentally prepared for or are unable to comprehend and fully consent to, for the gratification of adults or older children (Daray et al., 2016). CSA is a serious problem worldwide, with 1 in 5 girls and 1 in 13 boys experiencing sexual abuse before age 18 according to a report by the World Health Organization (2022). Other studies have found that up to 40% of girls are sexually abused, suggesting that CSA is vastly underreported (Cavanaugh et al., 2015). According to a study by Tasharrofi and Barnes (2019), CSA is linked to several adverse outcomes including low impulse control, which can lead to problems in many aspects of life. However, research has shown that social support may buffer the relationship between CSA and other adverse life outcomes including mental illness (Musliner & Singer, 2014), as well as reduce impulsivity (Gao et al., 2021). It has also been shown that children of parents who experienced CSA experience more negative outcomes (Roberts et al., 2004), possibly due to poorer parenting practices that perpetuate intergenerational cycles of trauma (Macintosh & Menard, 2020; Hatch et al., 2020). The proposed study aims to see if the impulsivity levels of parents who have experienced CSA are buffered by perceived social support (Figure 1). The data will be taken from a larger study on early life stress and self regulation in parents and toddlers. Participants (N = 371) were asked to complete the expanded Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) survey (Cronholm et al., 2015), the Urgency, Premeditation, Perseverance, Sensation-Seeking, Positive Urgency, Impulsive Behavior scale short form (SUPPS-P; Cyders et al., 2014), and the Social Support Questionnaire short form (SSQ-SF; Sarason et al., 1987). Initial correlation tests will be run in R. Then, a moderation analysis using linear regression (Darlington & Hayes, 2017) will be conducted to test whether social support moderates the relation between a parent’s self-reported history of CSA and their impulsivity. The results of the proposed study could be used when designing interventions for parents who have experienced CSA by contributing to trauma-informed care practices that take into account service participants’ impulsivity levels and available social support, possibly improving the lives of families and mitigating the intergenerational cycle of trauma.

Authors

• Jeffrey Innes Lock, Eastern Michigan University
  Presenting Author

• Jamie Lawler, Eastern Michigan University

• Angela D Staples, Eastern Michigan University