Stress induced by children born of rape and the parental alliance in the DR Congo

Objective

The goal was to understand how children born of rape in the Democratic Republic of Congo induce parental stress and how parents work together to care for these children.

Background

Abundant literature is devoted to children born of rape, but nothing is known about the stress undergone by their parents in the care process.

Method

Twenty-four rape survivor couples and 26 control couples with children aged 6–17 were subjected to Parenting Alliance Inventory (PAI) and Parenting Stress Index (PSI) tests in the east part of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Results

The parental alliance of the rape survivor couples was comparable to that of the controls. However, for survivor couples, mothers received more support from their husbands for girls than for boys. Parental stress was low among fathers. It was high among mothers of boys and low among fathers of girls. Finally, it was high among mothers of boys compared with fathers.

Conclusion

Boys born of rape induce high parental stress compared with girls born of rape, and mothers experience more stress than fathers.

Implications

Support programs for families of rape survivors must be gender specific for both parents and children, and preferably a family-centered approach should be considered.