Childhood Sexual Abuse and Mental Health in Adult Life

Abstract

The relationship between childhood sexual abuse and mental health in adult life was investigated in a random community sample of women. There was a positive correlation between reporting abuse and greater levels of psychopathology on a range of measures. Substance abuse and suicidal behaviour were also more commonly reported by the abused group. Childhood sexual abuse was more frequent in women from disrupted homes as well as in those who had been exposed to inadequate parenting or physical abuse. While elements in the individual's childhood which increased the risks of sexual abuse were also directly associated to higher rates of adult psychopathology, abuse emerged from logistic regression as a direct contributor to adult psychopathology. Severity of abuse reported was related to the degree of adult psychopathology. The overlap between the possible effects of sexual abuse and the effects of the matrix of disadvantage from which it so often emerges were, however, so considerable as to raise doubts about how often, in practice, it operates as an independent causal element. Further, many of those reporting childhood sexual abuse did not show a measurable long-term impairment of their mental health. Abuse correlated with an increased risk for a range of mental health problems, but in most cases its effects could only be understood in relationship to the context from which it emerged.

Childhood sexual abuse and pathogenic parenting in the childhood recollections of adult twin pairs

“…These results parallel those of previous studies (Mullen et al 1993 ;Fleming et al 1997 ;Gladstone et al 1999) by strongly suggesting that children who report childhood sexual victimization also report, through ratings on the PBI, that they experienced an emotionally cold and rejecting family environment. More importantly, they further suggest that CSA is associated with parental behaviours that are recognized by other family members, regardless of their abuse status.…”

“…Mullen et al 1993 ;Fleming et al 1997). The present data suggest that victims of CSA are less likely (on average) than other respondents to rate either their mothers or their fathers as having been overprotective of them during childhood.…”

Interaction between a functional MAOA locus and childhood sexual abuse predicts alcoholism and antisocial personality disorder in adult women

“…Women exposed to CSA have an increased risk for different psychopathologies in adulthood including addictions to alcohol and other drugs; [2][3][4][5][6] antisocial personality disorder (ASPD); 4,5 major depression, 7-9 suicidal behavior; 4,8,10,11 post-traumatic stress disorder 4,12,13 and eating disorders. 6 The impact of CSA on adult mental health is only one of the complex set of intercorrelated social, economic and familial disadvantages and as such the presence of CSA is an indicator of a wider and larger dysfunction within families.…”

Childhood sexual abuse and risks for licit and illicit drug-related outcomes: a twin study

“…Examinations in general population samples that have obtained CSA history by retrospective report from young adults have confirmed associations with substance dependence (Mullen et al 1993;Fergusson et al 1996b ;Molnar et al 2001). However, reports have also noted that parental SUDs are associated with significant risk for offspring CSA (Fergusson et al 1996 b ;Fleming et al 1997 ;Nelson et al 2002 ;Walsh et al 2003).…”