Female Navy recruits (N = 5,226) completed surveys assessing history of childhood sexual abuse (CSA), childhood strategies for coping with CSA, childhood parental support, and current psychological adjustment. Both CSA and parental support independently predicted later adjustment. In analyses examining whether CSA victims' functioning was associated with CSA severity (indexed by 5 variables), parental support (indexed by 3 variables), and coping (constructive, self-destructive, and avoidant), the negative coping variables were the strongest predictors. A structural equation model revealed that the effect of abuse severity on later functioning was partially mediated by coping strategies. However. contrary to predictions, the model revealed that childhood parental support had little direct or indirect impact on adult adjustment.

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Researchers have found equivocal results with respect to whether the disclosure of child sexual abuse is helpful or not. The threat of harm as well as the possibility of being humiliated, not believed, or blamed, render the disclosure of child sexual abuse difficult for some victims. Suppressing of traumatic events has been linked to negative health effects. The current study investigated the relationship between the inability to fully disclose the abuse and subsequent traumatic symptomatology. Questionnaires including the Trauma Symptom Checklist 40, the Child Sexual Experiences Questionnaire, and the Parental Support Scale were completed by 204 victims of child sexual abuse. Multiple regression analyses were performed using traumatic symptomatology as the dependent variable. The extent to which a victim wanted to tell about the abuse but held back from doing so and the severity of the abuse were related to adult symptomatology. Findings suggest that victims enduring more severe abuse are more likely to hold back from fully disclosing the abuse which is associated with more trauma-related symptoms.

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