Sexual Abuse

EFFECTS OF CHILDHOOD SEXUAL ABUSE ON FEMALE & MALE ADULTS

Childhood sexual abuse continues to be prevalent and prevention or intervention efforts are considered a failure ("Child," 1999; Gelles, 1998). Childhood sexual abuse results in effects that continue into adulthood. Relationships between this sexual abuse and adult problems such as depression, anxiety, drug abuse, attempted suicide, and psychiatric disorders, have been found (McCauley, Kern, Kolodner, Dill, Schroeder, DeChant, Ryden, Derogatis, & Bass, 1997). Studies of the effects of childhood sexual abuse on women are more prevalent than those regarding male victims. Those regarding male victims tend to focus on sexual identity issues (Ferren, 1998). Effects of this abuse on female victims has been compared to effects on male victims, on issues of depression and stress, with conflicting results. Effects of depression are typically reported to be higher for female victims than male victims, and effects of stress are hypothesized to result in differences in hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis functioning (Weiss, Longhurst, & Mazure, 1999).

Studies with clinical populations appear to be more prevalent than those with nonclinical populations, and studies tend to have larger sample sizes for women compared to men. Therefore, a study is needed to investigate specific effects of depression and anxiety for the nonclinical female and male adult population, wit

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Category: Psychology - S