Abstract
Six hundred and sixty college undergraduates completed three measures of current adjustment. Subjects completed the Social Skills Inventory (SSI), a measure of social competence, the Self-Description Questionnaire III, a multidimensional measure of self-concept, and the parent scales of the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment, a measure of perceived parental support. Subjects also completed a retrospective report of family environment and parenting practices, the Assessing Environments III. Using a cut-off of 5 on the Physical Punishment scale of the AEIII, 9% of the sample was classified as physically abused. Analyses, controlling for socioeconomic status and ethnicity, showed that a history of abuse was predictive of current self-concept, but did not predict social competence as a young adult. The abuse and nonabuse groups were not significantly different on any SSI scale. Factor analysis of discipline items from the AEIII resulted in three factors. Perception of Physical Maltreatment was a significant predictor of self-concept, while Uncommon/Critical Discipline Events and Common Discipline Events were not significant to the prediction. Analyses lended support to a mediational model suggesting that physical abuse has a negative impact on self-concept through its negative effect on parent-child relationships.
Lopez, Molly McKee (1994). The social functioning and self-concept of adult victims of child abuse. Master's thesis, Texas A&M University. Available electronically from
https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /ETD -TAMU -1994 -THESIS -L864.