Abstract
This paper takes a cognitive developmental perspective in the qualitative analysis of 9 interviews of women who were sexually abused as children and whose children were also sexually abused. It discusses ways in which the development of cognitive self-understanding can by stymied by childhood sexual abuse and how this, in turn, can affect a woman's ability to parent her children and take full advantage of psychotherapy. It studies the recovery process that participants describe at various stages of a social cognitive developmental model of self-understanding. Finally, it promotes the use of a cognitive developmental perspective in clinical work and offers suggestions for counselors addressing issues of childhood sexual victimization.
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Baker, L.J. Multigenerational Sexual Abuse: A Cognitive Developmental Approach to Understanding Mothers in Treatment. Journal of Adult Development 8, 51–59 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026449805197
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026449805197