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Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
Child sexual abuse (CSA) has been linked to several negative psychosocial outcomes in
its victims throughout life. However, the specific impact of different features of CSA
has not been sufficiently studied. This research addressed: 1) the impact of CSA on
psychosocial outcomes in young adulthood; and 2) the differential effect of a wide
range of CSA features (such as, victim’s gender, age of onset, penetration occurrence,
victim-offender relationship, number of offenders and use of force) in deviant behavior
and psychopathological symptoms, in male and female victims. Our sample comprised
617 young adults and data was collected using the ACE Study Questionnaire, the
Deviant Behavior Variety Scale and the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale. Pearson
correlations, point-biserial correlations were used to test the associations between CSA
and indicators of psychopathological symptoms and deviant behavior. We then analyzed
CSA’s capacity to predict these outcomes using multiple linear regressions.
Afterwards, participants who were identified as victims of CSA (n = 76) were selected
and we carried out separate analyses for males and females using point-biserial
correlations and calculating Cohen’s d effect size. Our findings not only support the
hypothesis that CSA is associated with negative psychosocial outcomes in young
adulthood, but also suggest that some specific features of CSA are positively associated
with psychopathological symptoms and/or deviant behavior (e.g., age of onset, victimperpetrator
relationship). Furthermore, gender differences were found in the pattern of
these associations. This research strengthens the scientific evidence concerning the
potential clinical benefits of exploring the effect of specific characteristics of CSA.
Description
Keywords
Child sexual abuse Characteristics of child sexual abuse Mental health Deviant behavior
Citation
Child Indicators Research Doi: 10.1007/s12187-020-09730-y
Publisher
Springer Verlag