Long-term effects of incestuous child abuse in college women: Social adjustment, social cognition, and family characteristics.

Interpersonal functioning among women reporting a history of childhood sexual abuse: empirical findings and methodological issues

“…As shown in Table 1, relatively few of the studies covered in this review have attempted to account for the role of third variables, such as family environment. This trend is particularly troublesome in light of findings that the relationship between CSA and later individual psychopathology diminish or disappear altogether when such factors have been statistically controlled (Fromuth, 1986;Harter, Alexander, & Neimeyer, 1988;Nash, Husley, Sexton, Harralson, & Lambert, 1993).…”

“…Studies employing college samples have similarly found poor social/interpersonal adjustment among those with a history of CSA. In one such investigation, the Social Adjustment Scale (SAS; Weissman & Paykel, 1974) interview was used to compare social functioning in samples of college incest survivors and control subjects (Harter et al, 1988). Although family variables, as well as immediate circumstances surrounding the abuse, were found to make independent contributions to social difficulties, paternal abuse and abuse involving intercourse were predictive of poor social adjustment among survivors, even after controlling for differences in family structure.…”

Parenting Characteristics of Women Reporting a History of Childhood Sexual Abuse

“…The possibility that adult correlates of CSA (e.g., posttraumatic stress symptoms, depression, anxiety, low selfesteem) interfere with parenting is consistent with studies linking maternal mental health problems with diminished parental functioning and poor developmental outcomes for children (Beck, 1998;Petterson & Albers, 2001;Seifer & Dickstein, 1993). From a social learning perspective, the high levels of dysfunction found in sexually abusive families (Carson, Gertz, Donaldson, & Wonderlich, 1990;Harter, Alexander, & Neimeyer, 1988;Madonna, Van Scoyk, & Jones, 1991) suggest that victims of intrafamilial sexual abuse may have inadequate opportunities to observe and learn from healthy, effective parenting models. This possibility is supported by reports from mothers with a history of CSA who cite a lack of exposure to models of successful caregiving as an impediment to their own effective parenting (Armsworth & Stronck, 1999).…”

Long-Term Consequences of Childhood Sexual Abuse by Gender of Victim

“…[1][2][3][4][5][6] Investigations of childhood sexual abuse (CSA), in particular, have received a large amount of attention. However, most studies of CSA have focused on female survivors, [7][8][9][10][11] leaving a relative scarcity of information about the characteristics and long-term impact of CSA on male survivors.…”