Sexual Abuse

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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. Symptoms disrupt consciousness in areas of memory, identity, and environmental perception. It remains unclear if the dissociation is a response to the sexual or physical abuse or whether it includes parental factors such as loss of parents, witnessing violence, or chronic neglect. In a study of 160 psychiatric inpatients, results showed that all the experiences were interrelated; sexual and physical abuse were related to early parental separation and sexual abuse was not related to witnessing violence. Levels of dissociative symptoms were significantly related to sexual and physical abuse but not to separation. Highest dissociative scores were associated with those sexually abused by family members, non-family members, and combined sexual and physical abuse; those who had mothers who drank heavily had the most significant levels of symptoms (Apgar, 1999, p. 972). In a study of 908 participants with court records of child abuse or neglect, the criminal or violent results of this abuse were studied. Results showed that this group was more likely than controls to have juvenile or adult arrests for nontraffic offenses and for violent crimes, with the emphasis on arrests for violence. By age 32 years, nearly half of the abus
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Approximate Word count = 3400
Approximate Pages = 14 (250 words per page)

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