Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

12-1985

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Psychology

Major Professor

Alvin G. Burstein

Committee Members

Cheryl B. Travis, Wes Morgan, Karen Lounsbury, F. Stanley Lusby

Abstract

Recent incest research indicates that some mothers of incest families were themselves involved in incestuous relationships in their own families of origin. Concern has been expressed that incest could be a "transmissible phenomenon" in that an incestuous daughter may reenact her mother's role and potentiate an incestuous relationship for her child.

The current study explores the possibility of retrospectively identifying girls who are at greater risk for second generation repetition through an analysis of incest experience and personality variables. Twenty women who had had a childhood incestuous relationship with a male relative who was not a sibling, and who were currently involved in psychotherapy, were tested and interviewed. Half the sample (repeaters) had a biological child or children sexually molested by a non sibling male relative of the child; half didn't (nonrepeaters). Subjects were given an open-ended incest experience questionnaire of the author's design, Rorschach's test, the Tellegen Differential Personality Questionnaire (DPQ) and the Leary Interpersonal Check List (ICL).

The relationship of incest experience variables (age of onset, coercion, frequency and duration of sexual contact, and social support) to repeat/nonrepeat status was assessed by functional categorical analysis. Results failed to indicate overall significance when all incest experience variables were included in the model. However, analyses of individual incest variables indicated that compared to nonrepeat subjects, incest experiences of repeat subjects were characterized by less coercion (p < .05), limited frequency of sexual contact (p < .02) and more social support (p < .01). These results suggest that nonrepeaters may have had a relatively more traumatic incest experience. The effects of a more traumatic experience may have been to produce the anger necessary for psychological separation from the perpetrator and to create a more vigilant attitude on the part of nonrepeaters.

A series of discriminant analyses assessed the relationship of the X+% and F+% Rorschach scores, DPQ, and ICL scores to repeat/nonrepeat status. Results indicated generally weak or nonsignificant relationships. However, five repeat subjects were consistently identified as such on at least nine of the thirteen psychological variables. These subjects were thought to represent a "high-risk" repeat personality profile. High risk was defined as increased opportunity for generational repetition of incest and appeared to be characterized by relatively high scores on X+% and F+%, alienation, distrust, stress, reserve, and constraint. ICL measures were not related to status, but it appeared that subjects in the repeat category were more likely to score in the passive/submissive half of the ICL personality dimension.

The expectation that incest between a girl and a biological relative, having an onset prior to age eleven and a duration longer than five years, involving intercourse, coercion, and no social support, would result in the most psychological impairment and greatest likelihood of second generation repetition was not validated. The study was useful in pointing out how incestuous experiences can be more sharply viewed than has been the case in past research studies.

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