Father-daughter incest : a comparison of parents with matched control group

Includes bibliographical references (pages 35-37)Personal data and perceptions of family members of 12 fathers and 12 mothers admitting the occurrence in their families of father-daughter incest were compared with those of 12 fathers and 12 mothers with no known history of incest. The groups were matched for age, education, and income level and each parent had at least one daughter. With the use of the Leary Interpersonal Check List, the following hypotheses were tested: (1) incest parents experience less self-acceptance than control parents; (2) incest parents consciously devalue their spouses more than control parents; (3) incest fathers perceive their eldest daughters as closer to the ideal spouse than do control fathers; (4) incest mothers disidentify with their eldest daughters more than do control mothers; (5) incest mothers devalue their eldest daughter more than do control mothers. In addition, data from the personal histories of the subjects were compared to detect any group differences. Results showed no statistically significant difference did emerge unexpectedly as a gender difference. Mothers consciously devalued their spouses less than did fathers