Breaking off the Cycle of Violence in the Family: Conceptions of Mothers who do not Reproduce the Abuse Suffered in Childhood with Their Children

Abstract

According to national and international studies, experiences of child abuse contribute for adult psychological disturbs and tend to be transmitted from generation to generation. The aim of this study is identify the conceptions of mothers who suffered abuse in childhood about what help them do not reproduce abusive acts with their children. It has been performed an exploratory design qualitative study, from account of the life history of four women, identified in a preliminary study. Semi-structured interviews and the construction of family genogram were made to expand the analysis of the history of participants. The material was understood from the content analysis, in which the categories and subcategories were defined a posteriori. The results indicate that the existence of healthy identification patterns in the social support net, the mothering, the therapy process and the individual characteristics seem to be related to the resilience, being factors that can contribute for the breaking off of the violence pattern.