Thesis advisor: James Lubben / Thesis advisor: Sara M. Moorman / Every year, more than three million allegations of childhood maltreatment are received by child protective services, many of which involve cases of abuse or neglect inflicted by the victims’ parents. A number of studies found that negative consequences of childhood maltreatment can last for a lifetime. Despite the long-term impact of childhood maltreatment, later-life relationships between adult victims of childhood maltreatment and their abusive parent have rarely been examined. This dissertation aims to address the gap in the literature by examining how adult victims of childhood maltreatment relate to their abusive parent when the parent becomes old and requires long-term care assistance. This three-paper dissertation utilized existing data sources: Wisconsin Longitudinal Study and National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States. The first paper examined the mediating effect of intergenerational solidarity with the aging mother in the association between maternal childhood maltreatment and adult psychological functioning. The second paper used longitudinal data analysis to compare long-term changes in affectual solidarity with aging mothers between adults with a history of childhood abuse and those without. This paper also examined moderating effects of the correlates of childhood abuse (i.e., poor social competency and lack of emotional regulation) in the association between childhood abuse and affectual solidarity with the aging mother. The third paper focused on the caregiving situation in which adult victims of childhood abuse provided care to their abusive parent. This paper investigated whether and how providing care to the abusive parent was associated with psychological distress among abused adult children, and whether self-esteem mediated the association. By revealing the dynamics of later-life relationships between adult victims of childhood maltreatment and their abusive parent, this three-paper dissertation not only contributes to creating new knowledge to the aging literature, but also provides future direction for social work practice and policy. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2016. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Social Work. / Discipline: Social Work.

There are numerous ways to measure or estimate parental attachment, from which can be deduced a positive, neutral, or negative relationship between adult child and parent. A standardized measure of parental attachment was administered to participants in this study, in order to determine a rating scale that can be worked with statistically to determine possible connections between the attachment measure and GP A. To that end, this study used the Revised Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment, (IPPA-R). The relationship between parent and child has profound effects on an individual throughout their life. Even in adulthood, the attachment of adult children to their parents affects their attitudes and achievement. It is a relationship common to all. Even if the person is orphaned or abandoned, if this relationship between parental attachment and adult achievement can be demonstrated statistically, it may lead the way in learning to focus the positive power of parental attachment into measurable achievement for the adult child. It is hoped that this research may lead to further study about parental attachment and the impact it may have on academic achievement, and perhaps extrapolated to increasing achievement in other areas. The goal of this study was to measure the influence of parental attachment upon the academic achievement of adult children, measured by the Revised Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA-R) developed by Amsden and Greenberg (2009). The IPPAR is a revision to the original Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment, first developed by Amsden and Greenberg in 1987. The original version had questions that were directed toward both parents together, such as "My parents respect my feelings ... " (Amsden & Greenberg, 1987). In the IPPA-R, the same question was broken down into questions for both father and mother. The same question in the IPPA-R would be, "My mother respects my feelings ... " and "My father respects my feelings ... " (Amsden & Greenberg, 1987). Participants for this study were recruited from a junior level Psychology class at the University of Central Florida. Extra credit was awarded for participation. A total of 106 students participated in this study. Of the total 106 surveys submitted, 3 surveys were incomplete, thereby reducing the number of participants to 103. Informed consent was provided by participants at the beginning of the survey. Along with the mother and father sections of the IPPA-R, the questionnaire included demographic inquiries, such as race, age and gender. Along with these questions, the request for grade point average (GPA) was included. Academic achievement was measured by GPA at the university level. GPA was recorded on a 1-4 scale, using 2 decimal points. The independent variable in this study was parental attachment with seven levels. GPA served as the dependent measure. Data were analyzed using a one way between subject Analysis of Variance, (ANOV A). GPA did not significantly differ as a function of parental attachment, F(6,97)= 1.758, p=0.116. Previous research using the IPPA-R as a psychometric tool has shown significant effects when parental attachment is compared to psychological well-being (Gullone & Robinson, 2005), as well as other, more diverse variables, such as tendencies toward drug abuse among female teenagers (Renes & Strange, 2009) and commitment to career choices (Ward, 2003). This study made use of the IPPA-R measure, as the above mentioned research did, but the dependent variable of GPA was different than other research using the IPPAR. Most research with the IPPA-R seeks to measure psychological well being, or some aspect of it. The present research differed from previous studies in that this project used academic achievement as the dependent variable. Academic achievement at the university level can be extremely important to life and career directions adult children may choose. Despite the lack of statistical evidence, several interesting issues were raised. These issues, as well as possible directions for future research, are discussed.