Being there : the effect of maternal support and attachment on children who were victims of sexual abuse

Abstract

My study will try to explore what type of relationship exists between the abused child and the non-abusive parent (mainly the mother); focusing on the attachment bond with, and supportiveness provided by the non-abusive parent. I decided to investigate this theme because although people in the helping profession know about its importance there is a definite lack of research regarding the link between attachment, supportiveness and the consequences of sexual abuse. This research can help professionals in becoming more aware about the role of the non-abusive parent in the life of a victim of sexual abuse. It can also help professionals to be more aware of the importance of supportiveness before, during and after the disclosure of abuse as well as how to shed a light on what protective action, if any, is being provided by the non-abusive parents to these children. The research is going to be set up in Malta using and a qualitative method of investigation, is going to be used. The data is going to be collected through a semi-structured interview through which a case study is compiled. The population eligible for this study is every person that was sexually abused as a child and the perpetrator was a parental figure. However the sample that is going to be studied will have got to have these characteristics: be female; between eighteen and thirty five years old; suffered sexual abuse when she was a child and she must have been abused by a parent or relative and the non-abuser is a parent.