Wednesday's Child Research into Women's Experience of Neglect and Abuse in Childhood and Adult Depression

The extent of severe childhood abuse is little known. Drawing on twenty years of systematic research and interviews," Wednesday's Child" examines the reasons why as much as 25% of women have been victims of child abuse, and how this abuse reverberates into their adult lives, doubling their chances of clinical depression.
The words of many ordinary women are documented here, vividly demonstrating how as survivors of child abuse, their adult relationships and self-esteem have suffered. The authors, who discuss abuse in terms of marital breakdown, poverty and parental psychiatric disorder also show us what we can learn from the experiences of these survivors, assessing factors which will reduce the later impact of childhood abuse on both the children of today and the parents of tomorrow.

As many as one in four women have suffered severe neglect or abuse in childhood. This doubles the likelihood of their suffering clinical depression in adult life. Based on twenty years of systematic research,Wednesday's Child examines why neglect and abuse occur and demonstrates how such negative experience in childhood often results in abusive adult relationships, low self-esteem and depression. Drawing on interviews with over 200 women, the authors show vividly what can be learned from the experience of adult survivors of abuse. Most importantly, Wednesday's Child assesses the factors which can reduce the later impact of such experience on both the children of today and the parents of tomorrow.

1 Introduction: history-taking Part I Neglect 2 Neglect: never truly available 3 Role-reversal: the meanest work of the house 4 Antipathy: ceaseless reprimand Part II Abuse 5 Physical abuse: beyond reasonable chastisement 6 Sexual abuse: shared secrecy and guilt 7 Psychological abuse: hostage to fortune Part III Contexts and outcomes 8 Multiple adversities: stressful family contexts 9 Adult vulnerability: legacy of childhood 10 Resilience: escape from risk 11 Conclusion: the century of the child

Antonia Bifulco and Patricia Moran are both members of the social science team based at the Socio-Medical Research Centre, Royal Holloway, University of London.