Intergenerational continuity of childhood sexual and physical abuse: Using network analysis to explore risk.

Abstract

The experience of childhood physical and sexual abuse has been consistently associated with a number of deleterious effects that extend across the lifespan, which has increased research interest in the risk for intergenerational continuity of abuse (i.e., a parent with a history of abuse who has a child who also experiences abuse). Although a number of potential risk factors have been posited or examined individually, prior literature often fails to account for associations among these risk factors, which limits intervention and prevention efforts. In the present study, secondary data were analyzed from 410 mother-child dyads. These data came from a deidentified clinical database of families with substantiated cases of child maltreatment. The present study used network analysis to explore the interconnection between risk factors associated with the continuity of sexual and physical abuse. Results showed that intergenerational continuity of sexual abuse was present for 8.5% of the sample, and intergenerational continuity of physical abuse was present for 7.8% of the sample. Mothers' substance use disorder and greater symptoms of hostility were directly associated with the intergenerational continuity of sexual abuse. No factors aside from the mother's and child's experience of physical abuse were directly associated with intergenerational continuity of physical abuse, in the network analysis. However, multiple patterns of risk emerged as indirectly connected to the intergenerational continuity of both sexual and physical abuse, which emphasized the importance of maternal mental health and adversity across the lifespan. Future research and clinical implications are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).