Incest, and the problems arising from it, have increasingly come under the scrutiny of therapists and researchers. All family members are affected by incest and all have been studied. Victims are particularly devastated by sexual abuse by a family member but it is a commonly held belief that having a supportive mother can mitigate the trauma a victim experiences. In this study, girls between the ages of ten and eighteen who were the victims of sexual abuse by a father-figure were compared to a group of girls not thought to be incest victims. The incest victims were divided into two groups, those with supportive mothers and those with non-supportive mothers, with support being defined as belief that sexual abuse occurred and action taken to have the offender leave the home. The Family Concept Inventory was the basis of comparison. Family Effectiveness, the degree to which a test taker's ratings of his or her real and ideal families match professional therapists' ratings of the ideal family, and Family Satisfaction, the comparison of the Real and Ideal Family Effectiveness scores, are obtained from the Inventory. There was no statistically significant difference across the three groups 2 on any of the three measures. However, incest victims with nonsupportive mothers had significantly lower Real Family Effectiveness scores than did incest victims with supportive mothers and the control group. On Family Satisfaction the scores of incest victims with non-supportive mothers were lower than the scores of incest victims with supportive mothers, but this difference was not statistically significant. Incest victims with non-supportive mothers clearly view their families as less effective than do incest victims with non-supportive mothers and non-incest victims. However, they remain attached to their families and in need of them and cannot bear the thought of losing their families. This may explain, in part, the reason there was not a statistically significant difference in Family Satisfaction between the two groups of incest victims.

No description available.

No description available.

Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 109-114) Also available in print.

Thesis (M. Soc. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 109-114).

published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Sciences

On t.p.: Degree of Master of Arts (Clinical Psychology) / Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2002. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: HIV-infection and AIDS are major problems not only in South Africa, but worldwide. It has become evident that not only is HIV-infection and AIDS rife amongst the youth of South Africa, but the rate of infection is likely to increase within the next few years. Second to the HIV-infection pandemic in South Africa, is the high prevalence of teenage pregnancies. These have been shown to increase rapidly with more teenage girls becoming pregnant than a few years back. Teenagers tend not to use contraceptives and do not make use of their parents as sexual informants. It is believed that parents do not play an active role in the imparting of knowledge and sexual information. The youth and especially teenage girls' sense of personal agency are limited, when they are confronted with dangerous sexual situations. Furthermore, it has been argued that a person's socio-economic status plays an important role in HIV-infection, contraceptive use and pregnancy - with teenagers from lower socio-economic groups more likely to be the higher risk group. This study proposed to address the need for research on female reproductive health in all the diverse South African communities, by focusing specifically on working-class mothers' constructions of daughters' sexuality in a "coloured"! semirural area of South Africa. In the current study, data were obtained from ten women aged 32 to 55 years about their views of their daughters' sexuality and their experiences with their own sexuality. All of the participants were mothers of teenage daughters. The women all came from a semi-rural "coloured" community and mostly varied only in terms of age and educational level. All of these participants were from a working-class background. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with the women and using a feminist social constructionist grounded theory these women's accounts were explored and analysed. The analysis revealed that women still uphold the belief that sexuality is an entity that should be feared. The focus of mothers' discussions with their daughters centered on the dangers of sexuality. Furthermore the analysis indicated that mothers aspired to reduce the sexual dangers that their daughters face. They endeavored to protect their daughters by continuously subjecting them to various messages - such as "sex is bad", "sex and sexuality can ruin one's future" and "virginity is the key to successful womanhood". Mothers also strived to protect their daughters through constant scrutiny. However, mothers, in their efforts to preserve their daughters innocence, were unwittingly seen to endanger the girls. They were endangering their daughters by keeping them ignorant and through shaming sexual experimentation and sexual curiosity. A restricted focus on the danger and perils of sexuality is found to be extremely hazardous. It overshadowed all the other sexual experiences that women might have. The emphasis on danger portrays women solely as victims and as sexually vulnerable. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Statistieke toon dat alle seksueel-oordraagbare infeksies, MIV-infeksie, VIGS en reproduktiewe gesondheidsprobleme op globale vlak toeneem, asook in Suid-Afrika. Baie duidelik is die invloed van MIV-infeksies asook VIGS onder die jeudiges van Suid-Afrika. Daar word gespekuleer dat die aantal infeksies aansienlik oor die volgende paar jaar sal toeneem. Naas die MIV-infeksie pandemonium is die hoë tienerswangerskappe 'n verdere probleem onder Suid-Afrikaanse tieners. Swangerskappe neem al hoe meer toe met meer tienerdogters wat swanger raak as 'n paar jaar gelede. Verder maak tieners nie gebruik van voorbehoedmiddels nie en gebruik ook nie hulouers as seksuele inligtingbronne nie. Daar is ook bevind dat ouers nie 'n aktiewe rol speel om seksuele informasie met hulle kinders te deel nie. Tieners, en veral tienerdogters, se siening oor hul persoonlike agentskap is beperk en veral wanneer hulle gekonfronteer word met gevaarlike seksuele situasies. Verder is daar bevind dat 'n persoon se sosio-ekonomiese status 'n belangrike rol speel by MIVinfeksie, die gebruik van voorbehoedmiddels en swangerskap. Tieners van 'n laer sosio-ekonomiese agtergrond is geïdentifiseer as die hoër risiko groep. Die huidige studie het beoog om die leemte van navorsing oor reproduktiewe gesondheid van vroue in alle diverse gemeenskappe in Suid- Afrika aan te spreek deur te fokus op "kleurling" werkersklas ma's in 'n semi-landelike area van Suid-Afrika. Tien vroue het aan die huidige studie deelgeneem. Hulle ouderdomme het gewissel vanaf 32 tot 55 jaar. Inligting aangaande hulle sienings oor hul dogters se seksualiteit sowel as hul eie was verkry. Al die vroue was ma's van tienerdogters en afkomstig uit 'n semi-landelike "kleurling" gemeenskap. Die deelnemers was almal vanuit 'n werkersklas agtergrond afkomstig. Semi-gestruktureerde in-diepte onderhoude is met die vroue gevoer. Die "feminist social constructionist grounded theory" metode is gebruik om die onderhoude te analiseer. Uit die analise blyk dit dat vroue glo dat seksualiteit 'n entiteit is wat gevrees moet word. Die fokus van ma's se besprekings met hulle dogters sentreer op die gevare van seksualiteit. Die analise toon verder dat ma's aspireer om die seksuele gevare te verminder wat hulle dogters in die gesig staar. Ma's wil hulle dogters beskerm deur hulle gedurig dop te hou asook deur boodskappe wat die ma's aan hulle dogters weergee. Boodskappe soos "seks is nie goed nie", "seks en seksualiteit kan jou toekoms verongeluk" en "maagdelikheid is die sleutel tot suksesvolle vrouwees" is van die boodskappe wat ma's aan hulle dogters weergee. Alhoewel ma's probeer om hul dogters se onskuld te beskerm, is hulle terselfdertyd onbewustelik besig om hulle dogters aan gevaar bloot te stel. Deur hulle dogters onkundig te hou en deur seksuele eksperimentasie asook seksuele nuuskierigheid as skandalig en onbetaamlik voor te hou, stel ma's hulle dogters bloot aan gevaar. Daar is 'n risiko verbonde aan die beperkte fokus op die gevaar van seksualiteit. Dit oorskadu alle ander seksuele ervarings wat vroue mag hê. Die klem op seks as 'n bedreiging stel vroue slegs voor as slagoffers en as seksueel weerloos.

Five Tucson, Arizona, mothers of adolescent daughters participated in exploratory, descriptive nursing research employing ethnographic interviews during July, 1987, to determine what cultural knowledge informs the behaviors of mothers as they enculturate their daughters regarding Breast Self-Examination (BSE). Five major taxonomies of cultural knowledge emerged: "Caring For Yourself Means Surviving As A Species"; "Being Unsure, Thinking 'Why Bother?'   "; "It Can't Happen To Me"; "If I Don't Know About It, It Isn't There"; and "It's Unnatural To Touch Yourself." Six pairs of conflicting cultural themes both presented BSE as a self-care means to promote human-species survival and simultaneously accounted for women's BSE non-compliance via their uncertainty over BSE techniques, sense of invulnerability to cancer, fear of uncovering disease, and unease with their own bodies. Nursing intervention should reinforce positive cultural knowledge about the female breasts which could be communicated by mothers to their daughters along with procedural knowledge in promoting BSE practice.

The purpose of the current study was to examine young women's perceptions of both verbal and nonverbal sexual communication from their mothers during childhood and how these perceptions are related to the female offspring's current sexual experiences and attitudes. More specifically, I hypothesized that perceptions of negative parental sexual communication will be related to relatively low levels of sexual experience, comfort regarding sexual activity, and sexual assertiveness, as well as negative affect and cognition regarding sexuality. I also hypothesized that female offspring will receive significantly more sexual communication from mother than from father. Finally, predicted that the communication received from mother, as opposed to father, will be related to high levels of sexual experience, sexual comfort, sexual assertiveness, and more positive sexual affect and cognition. There were 295 female college students who completed questionnaires regarding sexual experience, comfort with sexual activity, sexual assertiveness, perceptions of parental sexual communication, affective and cognitive properties of sexual attitude, and erotophobia/erotophilia. Perceptions of parental sexual communication were measured with a survey developed specifically for the current study. Two forms of this survey were used; one to measure mother's verbal communication and the other to measure nonverbal communication. Results showed a negative correlation between tone of parental sexual communication and sexual experience, as well as a positive correlation between parental sexual communication and sexual cognition. The results of this study also showed that more sexual communication is perceived from mother than from father, and amount of mother's communication was significantly related to sexual assertiveness and affective properties of sexual attitudes. / Department of Psychological Science

No description available.