According to the current literature on adult survivors of incest, under-reporting of cases has contributed to a lack of understanding regarding the psychodynamics of the incest victim. In this regard, Stern's Theory of Affect leads to the implication that anger responses would be an important area for inquiry in circumstances where there was childhood trauma involving a parent such as in an incestuous experience. This study was based on this implication of Stern's theory; in particular, the study explored for the effects of incest in terms of the anger responses and behaviors generated in a convience sample of five, adult females who were victims of father/daughter incest.
Three test instruments were administered to sample subjects. These were: (1) the Scale of Severity Abuse used to measure the degree of sexual violation the subject experienced; (2) the Structured Interview Guide which was developed by the investigator to measure incest-related anger responses and behavior; and (3) the SCL-90-R which is a standardized instrument designed to assess psychological symptoms in psychiatric and medical populations.
Findings observed for the analyses that were performed on collected data indicated that incest survivors had problems in the area of unresolved anger. The initial response to the experience tended to be one of anger suppression and/or repression with this repressed/suppressed material surfacing only after a number of years had passed. While most subjects were aware that as adults they did feel angry, they were disinclined to voice the anger to the perpetrator in a direct and forthright manner.
In general, sample subjects thought frequently about the incest experience and harbored resentments toward both parents. The feelings of anger appeared to have been generated by feelings of being betrayed by someone they should have been able to trust, as well as feelings of being unable to control what was happening to the