Bilha Davidson-Arad

The Mothering of Women Abused by Their Partner: An Outcome Evaluation of a Group Intervention:

Findings of an outcome evaluation of a mothering group intervention with women abused by their partners are presented, based on measurements of intervention and control groups before, immediately after, and 3 months after the intervention. At Time 1, both groups reported moderate well-being, high parental self-efficacy, and low mothering-related stress. Comparisons within the intervention group revealed an increase in parental self-efficacy and in emotional well-being at Time 2 and a decrease in mothering-related stress between Time 1 and Time 3. Moreover, in comparison with the control group, at Time 2, the parental self-efficacy of women in the intervention group increased, their mothering-related stress decreased, and they reported a greater optimism with regard to their predicted well-being, whereas the control group showed declines in parental self-efficacy and predicted well-being and a greater mothering-related stress. Yet, the improvement on the mothering-related stress was the only one maintained at Time 3.

Posttraumatic growth among women survivors of childhood sexual abuse: Its relation to cognitive strategies, posttraumatic symptoms, and resilience.

OBJECTIVE Research suggests that, after a traumatic event, survivors can experience positive change (posttraumatic growth), but the relation of these changes to overall psychological adjustment (resilience) and psychological distress (posttraumatic symptoms; PTS), as well as the relation to possible contributors, is still unclear. The study examines posttraumatic growth (PTG) among women survivors of childhood sexual abuse (CSA), looking at the relation of PTG to the womens cognitive strategies (past self-blame, self-forgiveness, perception of control and hope), resilience and PTS. METHODS Self-report questionnaires were completed by 100 women survivors of CSA. RESULTS Findings show that the main contributors to PTG were demographic-familial variables (birth order and number of siblings) and cognitive strategies (self-blame and hope).The relationship between resilience and PTG was curvilinear: The highest levels of PTG occurred when resilience levels were moderate. Variance in PTG was also explained by an interaction between resilience and PTS. CONCLUSIONS Cognitive strategies and familial variables can contribute to PTG. The complex relations between PTG, resilience and PTS might help professionals better understand different trajectories of adjustment among trauma survivors. (PsycINFO Database Record

Comparison of Violence and Abuse in Juvenile Correctional Facilities and Schools

Peer violence, peer sexual harassment and abuse, and staff abuse experienced by boys and girls in juvenile correctional facilities are compared with those experienced by peers in schools in the community. Responses of 360 youths in 20 gender-separated correctional facilities in Israel to a questionnaire tapping these forms of mistreatment were compared with those of 7,012 students in a representative sample of Israeli junior high and high schools. Victimization was reported more frequently by those in correctional facilities than by those in schools. However, some of the more prevalent forms of violence and abuse were reported with equal frequency in both settings, and some more frequently in schools. Despite being victimized more frequently, those in the correctional facilities tended to view their victimization as a significantly less serious problem than those in the schools and to rate the staff as doing a better job of dealing with the problem.

The Contribution of Cognitive Strategies to the Resilience of Women Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse and Non-Abused Women:

This study examines the contribution of four strategies—self-forgiveness, realistic control, unrealistic control, and hope—to the resilience of 100 women survivors of childhood sexual abuse (CSA), as compared with 84 non-sexually abused women. The findings show that CSA survivors exhibited lower resilience, lower self-forgiveness, lower hope, and higher levels of posttraumatic symptoms (PTS). They also indicate that resilience was explained by the participants’ financial status, PTS severity, and two cognitive strategies—self-forgiveness and hope. Finally, PTS and hope mediated the relation between CSA and resilience.