%0 Journal Article
%T Maternal Support as a Predictor of ChildrenĄ¯s Sexualized Behaviors Following Childhood Sexual Abuse
%A Claudia L. Campbell
%A Julia C. Sager
%A Rachel Wamser-Nanney
%J Child Maltreatment
%@ 1552-6119
%D 2019
%R 10.1177/1077559518786821
%X Although previous studies have concluded that maternal support following childrenĄ¯s sexual abuse disclosures is an important predictor of childrenĄ¯s symptoms, the empirical data to support this is limited. Much of the small prior literature has used measures of maternal support without adequately reported psychometric properties, which may obscure the true relationship between support and childrenĄ¯s sexual behaviors. Further, it is unclear whether maternal support is related to childrenĄ¯s sexual acting out in the context of known predictors of sexual behaviors. The purposes of the current study were to (1) examine the relationships between support and childrenĄ¯s sexual behaviors and (2) determine whether support is related to sexual behaviors after controlling for known predictors among 161 treatment-seeking children (6¨C12 years old; M = 8.70, SD = 2.69) and their nonoffending mothers. In the bivariate analyses, emotional support was negatively related to childrenĄ¯s sexual behaviors, whereas maternal blame/doubt was positively correlated with sexual behaviors. Nonetheless, after controlling for other predictors, emotional support predicted developmentally related sexual behaviors but not sexual abuse¨Cspecific sexual behaviors. Levels of emotional support and blame/doubt predicted childrenĄ¯s total sexual behaviors, after accounting for identified predictors, suggesting that support may play a small role in understanding childrenĄ¯s sexual behaviors
%K maternal support
%K maternal blame
%K sexual behavior problems
%K sexual abuse
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1077559518786821