Am J Psychiatry 1991; 148:46-49
Copyright © 1991 by American Psychiatric Association
Family interactions within incest and nonincest families
PG Madonna, S Van Scoyk and DP Jones
C. Henry Kempe National Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Child Abuse and Neglect, Denver, CO.
OBJECTIVE: The study addressed the questions, What are the interactional
patterns in families in which incest occurs? and Do these patterns differ
from those of families with other clinical problems? METHOD: The families
for the study were chosen from two outpatient clinics; the C. Henry Kempe,
National Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Child Abuse and Neglect
provided access to families with incest, and the nonincest families each
had a child seen in a university child psychiatry clinic. In each of these
settings, 30 families were selected in the order of referral for
evaluation. All families agreed to participate. Each family was given two
tasks to perform during a structured interview. The interviews were
videotaped, and 15-20-minute segments were rated independently by two of
the authors, who used the Beavers-Timberlawn Family Evaluation Scale to
assess interactional behaviors within each family. RESULTS: The incest
families were significantly more dysfunctional in all but one area of
family interaction. The distribution of power within a family did not
differentiate the two types of families. CONCLUSIONS: The incest families
dysfunctional patterns that seemed to support and maintain the incestuous
behavior were a rigid family belief system, a dysfunctional parental
coalition, parental neglect and emotional unavailability, and the inability
to nurture autonomy in family members.
