Volume 13, Issue 4, October 2025 Evidence in Action A quarterly research brief from the Center on Trauma and Children

This study examined how experiences of childhood sexual and physical abuse persist across generations and identified interconnected risk factors that contribute to this continuity of abuse. Using secondary data from 410 mother–child dyads with substantiated cases of child maltreatment, the researchers applied network analysis to explore complex relations among maternal trauma histories, mental health, substance use, and parenting behaviors. 

Results showed that in 8.5% of families both the mother and child had experienced childhood sexual abuse, and in 7.8% of families both the mother and child had experienced childhood physical abuse. Both mother and child experiencing sexual abuse was associated with mothers having a substance use disorder and having greater difficulty managing anger and emotions. Network analysis further showed how risk factors are interconnected. Specifically, mothers who experienced physical and/or sexual abuse as children were more likely to struggle with low self-esteem, depression, and feelings of isolation as adults. These challenges were connected to facing many ongoing stressors or crises in adulthood, which in turn were related to poorer recovery from trauma and a greater risk for anger outbursts and substance use. For childhood physical abuse, one key pattern stood out: mothers who were physically abused as children were more likely to use harsher discipline with their own children and using harsher discipline was associated with seeing their child as difficult.