The mental health of mothers of physically abused children: the relationship with children's behavioural problems—report from Japan

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The aim of this study was to investigate the mental health of mothers of physically abused children and the relationship between the mothers' mental health and the children using well-established research instruments and to compare this with comparison group data. The purpose was to examine the extent of correlation between these variables in Japan and to start the process of unpacking the complexities of the various potential causal relationships. There was a much higher rate of both manual occupation and single mothers in the abused group compared to the comparison group. In this study, there were two types of single mother: mothers who divorced or separated from the children's biological or step fathers who had been abusing their children and single mothers who were themselves abusing their children. Although the study focused on mothers, the majority of perpetrators in the sample were fathers. There is the possibility that mothers experienced physical abuse from current or previous partners. Our results showed a statistical correlation between children's total scores on the CBCL and two subscales of the GHQ completed by mothers in the families of abused children: somatic symptoms and social dysfunction. In addition, children's perceptions of mothers have been found to operate as a mediator of both internalizing and externalizing symptomatology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)