Can I get a witness? African American mothers, parenting networks, and attachment

Abstract

This qualitative study using a phenomenological constructivist approach examined the meaning African American mothers give to experiences of sexual mistreatment and their perceptions of how those experiences influenced their approach to parenting within extended family structures. I expected that mothers' experiences of trauma management, their use of parenting networks, and their sociocultural environment influence their parenting practices. Additionally, I expected that mothers' experiences of trauma management mediated the quality of parent-child-family relationships. Twenty-one currently parenting African American mothers receiving services for homelessness, substance misuse, and/or recovery from prostitution/domestic sex trafficking participated in an in-depth semi-structured audio-taped face-to-face interview. I used the procedures of multiple case study analysis to modify my expectations based on mothers' narrative accounts of their experiences. Findings suggest that the parenting practices of African American mothers who are survivors of sexual mistreatment are influenced by the intersections of their (a) mental representations of themselves as caregivers and their attachment-related relationships across their life course, (b) their trauma management experiences, (c) their utilization of supportive parenting networks, and (d) their accessibility to socioeconomic resources. Implications for practice, policy, and future research are discussed.