Dissociative Symptoms Over a Year in a Sample of Sexually Abused Children

Child Adolesc Psychiatry Ment Health

2013

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186

Although child sexual abuse (CSA) is recognized as a serious violation of human well-being and of the law, no community has yet developed mechanisms that ensure that none of their youth will be sexually abused. CSA is, sadly, an international problem of great magnitude that can affect children of all ages, sexes, races, ethnicities, and socioeconomic classes. Upon invitation, this current publication aims at providing a brief overview of a few lessons we have learned from CSA scholarly research as to heighten awareness of mental health professionals on this utmost important and widespread social problem. This overview will focus on the prevalence of CSA, the associated mental health outcomes, and the preventive strategies to prevent CSA from happening in the first place.

Section: Mental Health Outcomes: What Are the Effects Of Csa?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Lessons learned from child sexual abuse research: prevalence, outcomes, and preventive strategies

Collin‐Vézina

Daigneault

Child Adolesc Psychiatry Ment Health

2013

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186

“…The few longitudinal studies available suggest that girls report fewer difficulties in the long term but the difficulties reported by boys are maintained over time (Bernier, Hébert, & Collin-Vézina, 2013). If clinical interventions are focused only on PTSD symptoms, the externalizing behavior problems of boys may crystallize and accentuate over time.…”

Section: Strengths and Limitations Of The Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Gender as a predictor of posttraumatic stress symptoms and externalizing behavior problems in sexually abused children

Gauthier-Duchesne

Daspe

2017

Child Abuse & Neglect

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Despite the proliferation of studies documenting outcomes in sexually abused victims, gender differences remain understudied. The bulk of studies have relied on retrospective samples of adults with insufficient representation of male victims to explore gender specificities. This study examined differential outcomes among boy and girl victims of sexual abuse. A predictive model of outcomes including abuse characteristics and sense of guilt as mediators was proposed. Path analysis was conducted with a sample of 447 sexually abused children (319 girls and 128 boys), aged 6 to 12. Being a girl was a predictor of posttraumatic stress symptoms, while being a boy was a predictor of externalizing problems. Being a boy was also associated with more severe abuse, which in turn predicted posttraumatic stress symptoms. Child's gender was not related to perpetrator's relationship to the child or sense of guilt. However, sense of guilt predicted posttraumatic stress symptoms and externalizing problems while perpetrator's relationship to the child predicted externalizing problems. Gender specificities should be further studied among sexually abused children, as boys and girls appear to manifest different outcomes. Sense of guilt should be a target in intervention for sexually abused children, as results highlight its link to heightened negative outcomes.

“…While no gender effect were found in the current models, it is still possible that some CSA correlates unfold or evolve differently in boys and girls over the course of longer periods of assessment. For example, the evolution of emotion regulation deficits and dissociation symptoms were found to be gender related in preschool victims of CSA over one year (Bernier et al, 2013;Langevin et al, 2015;Séguin-Lemire et al, 2017).…”

Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cumulative childhood trauma, emotion regulation, dissociation, and behavior problems in school-aged sexual abuse victims

Journal of Affective Disorders

Langevin

Oussaïd

2018

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104

Background-Child sexual abuse is associated with a plethora of devastating repercussions. A significant number of sexually abused children are likely to experience other forms of maltreatment that can seriously affect their emotion regulation abilities and impede on their development. The aim of the study was to test emotion regulation and dissociation as mediators in the association between cumulative childhood trauma and internalized and externalized behavior problems in child victims of sexual abuse.Methods-Participants were 309 sexually abused children (203 girls and 106 boys; Mean age = 9.07) and their non-offending parent. Medical and clinical files were coded for cumulative childhood trauma. At initial evaluation (T1), parents completed measures assessing children's emotion regulation abilities and dissociation. At Time 2 (T2), parents completed a measure assessing children's behavior problems. Mediation analyses were conducted with emotion regulation and dissociation as sequential mediators using Mplus software.Results-Findings revealed that cumulative childhood trauma affects both internalized and externalized behavior problems through three mediation paths: emotion regulation alone, dissociation alone, and through a path combining emotion regulation and dissociation.Limitations-Both emotion regulation and dissociation were assessed at T1 and thus the temporal sequencing of mediators remains to be ascertained through a longitudinal design. All measures were completed by the parents.Conclusions-Clinicians should routinely screen for other childhood trauma in vulnerable clienteles. In order to tackle behavior problems, clinical interventions for sexually abused youth need to address emotion regulation competencies and dissociation.