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This study was conducted in the eastern DR Congo to analyze the trauma of children born of rape (CBOR), and their behavior as it is perceived by their parents and community. Twenty-four families of women rape survivors and twenty-seven control families were used. The Trauma Symptoms Checklist for Children, Child Behavior Checklist, and Child and Yo...
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... the CBCL applied to mothers, there is no significant difference (p < 0.05) related to the sex of the child; the behavior of girls is comparable to that of boys whether in the CBOR or control child group. Girls born of rape are not different from girls in the control group; there is no significant difference between their CBCL scores (Table 1). However, when we compare the boys born of rape with the boys in the control group, it is observed that boys born of rape have higher scores in all the subscales except for avoidance, aggressive behavior, and attention problems. ...Context 2
... the boys born of rape are more anxious and somatic, and have more sexual preoccupation, thought problems, and delinquent behavior than those from the boys' control group. Ultimately, they have greater internalized and externalized behaviors (see Table 1). Applying the CBCL to fathers, the results (see Table 1) show that fathers say that the behavior of their children is no different from other children in the control group, whether they are girls or boys. ...Context 3
... they have greater internalized and externalized behaviors (see Table 1). Applying the CBCL to fathers, the results (see Table 1) show that fathers say that the behavior of their children is no different from other children in the control group, whether they are girls or boys. It was also observed that children born of rape who are living in a monogamous marital regime scored significantly higher (p ≥ 0.01) than those in a polygamous regime except for somatic, sexual preoccupation, and attention problem characteristics, for which no significant difference was observed between the two groups ( Table 2). ...Citations
... The husbands of sexually assaulted spouses may also develop PTSD. The presence of children born of the rape, symbols of the assault, similarly disrupts relationships within the family and increases the level of parental stress (Foussiakda et al. 2022(Foussiakda et al. , 2023. We aimed to analyze the PTSD symptoms of rape survivors 10 years after the assault to understand the extent of support received from their husbands. ...
... The unfavorable factors mentioned by Foussiakda et al. (2022) were, among other things, the presence of children born from rape and other children in the family who were the indirect victims of rape. These children are thought to increase their level of parental stress and draw their resilience from the environment by developing coping strategies (Foussiakda et al. 2023). Further research should be carried out on children born of rape who now live on the streets to understand their feelings and the coping strategies they develop to survive. ...
The reintegration of survivors and their children born because of war rapes is a major issue in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. This study analyzed survivors’ posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and the support received from their spouses, both in terms of their own well-being and that of their children. The PTSD form, DAS-16, Marital Support Survey, Sexual Desire Scale, and Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale tests were administered to 28 survivor couples and 32 control couples selected from the Kabamba cluster in Kabare, South Kivu. Over 70% of the respondents had PTSD scores above 34, required clinical assistance, and were not satisfied with their marital relationships. Based on survivors’ perceptions, the balance of marital support and the coherence of couple responses were negative. The survivors typically feel that they provide more support to their husbands than they receive. Unlike husbands, survivors presented low individual sexual desire and high dyadic sexual desire scores, while husbands’ dyadic desire decreased, and they no longer wished to have sexual relations with their partners. Rape survivors derive resilience from prayer and internal self-control, as they live in an environment in which war-related stress causes chronic trauma.
