Citation

Lopez MA, Heffer RW. Child Abuse Negl. 1998; 22(3): 183-195.

Affiliation

M University, College Station 77843-4235, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1998, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

9589173

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the impact of childhood physical abuse on self-concept and social competency of older adolescents and assessed perception of parental relationships as a mediator for consequences of abuse on social adjustment. METHOD: College undergraduates (n = 660) completed: (a) the Social Skills Inventory (SSI), a measure of social competence, (b) the Self-Description Questionnaire-III (SDQ-III), a multidimensional measure of self-concept, (c) the parent scales of the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA), a measure of perceived parental support, and (d) the Assessing Environments-III (AE-III), a retrospective report of family environment and parenting practices. RESULTS: Analyses, controlling for socioeconomic status and ethnicity, showed that a history of physical abuse was predictive of current self-concept, but did not predict social competence as an older adolescent. Further analyses lend support to a mediational model, suggesting that physical abuse has a negative impact on self-concept through its negative effect on parent-child relationships. CONCLUSIONS: The findings indicate that childhood physical abuse has a negative impact on the self-concept of the older adolescent. However, this impact can be better understood by investigating its potentially harmful effect on parent-child relationships. The impact of physical abuse on adolescents' social competence was not supported in this study.

Language: en