Citation

Bolen RM, Lamb JL. J. Interpers. Violence 2004; 19(2): 185-211.

Affiliation

Boston University, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2004, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/0886260503260324

PMID

15006001

Abstract

A concern in the intervention with sexually abused children is the support of their nonoffending guardians after disclosure of the abuse. Approximately a third of nonoffending guardians respond with vacillation in support, and these nonoffending guardians are at greater risk for having their children removed. This article reconceptualizes vacillation in support as an ambivalent response. Drawing on the interdisciplinary literature, this article suggests that ambivalence in support reflects the confluence between the nonoffending guardian's valence toward the child and perpetrator. This article further proposes that ambivalence is normative when the costs of disclosure are high and when the nonoffending guardian is ambivalent/preoccupied in attachment. Ambivalence may also be both a precursor to and an effect of the traumatic experience of the disclosure on the nonoffending guardian. In a study of 30 nonoffending mothers whose partners sexually abused their children, these relationships were supported.

Language: en