RESUMO
Young African-American women are the fastest growing group of crack cocaine users in the United States. Despite this increase, relatively little is known about women who use crack cocaine and the possible reasons for their drug use. This descriptive, exploratory study focused on data from a sample of 105, predominantly African-American women who use(d) crack cocaine, of whom 60 were in drug treatment and 45 were still using crack cocaine. Significant correlations were found between variables such as family drug use, first age of sexual abuse, age of first depressive symptoms and age of first illicit drug use. These data are consistent with other studies which have noted high rates of depression and sexual abuse in samples of predominantly Euro-American, alcoholic women. Implications for the treatment of women are discussed.
Assuntos
Negro ou Afro-Americano/psicologia , Abuso Sexual na Infância/psicologia , Filho de Pais com Deficiência/psicologia , Cocaína Crack , Transtorno Depressivo/psicologia , Drogas Ilícitas , Transtornos Relacionados ao Uso de Substâncias/psicologia , População Urbana , Adolescente , Adulto , Alcoolismo/genética , Alcoolismo/psicologia , Alcoolismo/reabilitação , População Negra , Criança , Abuso Sexual na Infância/genética , Abuso Sexual na Infância/reabilitação , Transtorno Depressivo/genética , Transtorno Depressivo/reabilitação , Feminino , Humanos , Fatores de Risco , Centros de Tratamento de Abuso de Substâncias , Transtornos Relacionados ao Uso de Substâncias/genética , Transtornos Relacionados ao Uso de Substâncias/reabilitaçãoRESUMO
The issue of sexual abuse in the family backgrounds of offenders and mothers of victims is explored in a clinical sample of 154 cases of intrafamilial sexual abuse. More than a third of the offenders and about half of the mothers had experienced or been exposed to sexual abuse as children. Cases were divided into those where the sexual abuser was the biological father in an intact family, those where he was a stepfather or mother's live-in partner, and those where he was a noncustodial father. In biological father cases, parents were about equally likely to have experienced sexual abuse during childhood, in the stepfather/live-in partner cases, the mother was more likely to have had such an experience, and in the noncustodial father cases, the offender was more likely to have come from a sexually abusive family.