Book excerpt: This was a 6-month cohort study of secondary traumatization in parents following child disclosures of extrafamilial sexual abuse. Sixty-one case families (59 mothers, 27 fathers) were matched on child's age, sex, family constellation and occupational status with a normative comparison group of 59 families (58 mothers, 40 fathers) recruited from the local children's hospital. Case parents were recruited from the hospital's Child Protection Team, as well as from regional Children's Aid Societies, and Victim/Witness Programs. Parents were assessed at 3 and 6 months post-disclosure using the Brief Symptom Inventory, the Dyadic Adjustment Scale, the Parent Sense of Competence Scale, the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales III, the Impact of Event Scale, and the Child Behavior Checklist. Adjustment was conceptualized as being related to 2 sources of trauma: the type of abuse, and the subjective experience of the event (cognitive appraisal, environmental sensitivity, and baseline emotional functioning). Two mediating variables, parent sexual abuse history, and court involvement were examined.