Background. We examined the relationship between childhood sexual abuse (CSA), and
interviewees' recollections of pathogenic parenting, testing for possible retrospective biases in the
recollections of those who have experienced CSA.Methods. Information about CSA, parental divorce and interviewees' recollections of parental
rejection, parental overprotection and perceived autonomy (as assessed through a shortened version
of the Parental Bonding Instrument) was obtained through telephone interviews with 3626
Australian twins who had also returned self-report questionnaires several years earlier. Recollections
of parental behaviours were compared for individuals from pairs in which neither twin, at least one
twin, or both twins reported CSA.Results. Significant associations were noted between CSA and paternal alcoholism and between
CSA and recollections of parental rejection. For women, individuals from CSA-discordant pairs
reported levels of parental rejection that were significantly higher than those obtained from CSA-negative pairs. The levels of parental rejection observed for twins from CSA-discordant pairs did
not differ significantly from those obtained from CSA-concordant pairs, regardless of respondent's
abuse status. For men from CSA-discordant pairs, respondents reporting CSA displayed a tendency
to report higher levels of parental rejection than did respondents not reporting CSA. Other
measures of parenting behaviour (perceived autonomy and parental overprotection) failed to show
a clear relationship with CSA.Conclusions. The relationship between CSA and respondents' recollections of parental rejection is
not due solely to retrospective bias on the part of abused individuals and, consistent with other
studies, may reflect a pathological family environment with serious consequences for all siblings.
Childhood sexual abuse and pathogenic parenting in the childhood recollections of adult twin pairs
