Child Sexual Abuse and Adult Religious Life: Challenges of Theory and Method

Abstract

The religious consequences of child sexual abuse in adulthood remain relatively unexamined in the research literature, especially where abusers are not clergy. Some studies suggest child sexual abuse survivors may rely on religion as a source of support, though the majority document a decrease in religiosity. Given the propensity for psychological challenges among adult survivors with diminished spiritual coping, we are calling for increased research attention to religion in the context of child sexual abuse. The objectives of this article were to review the literature on intersections between child sexual abuse (perpetrated by nonclergy) and religiosity in adults and set forth relevant research approaches for future investigation. Findings revealed a comprehensive, multidisciplinary, and theoretically informed approach to research may be needed.

Childhood Trauma and Experience in Close Relationships Are Associated with the God Image: Does Religiosity Make a Difference?

“…They hesitated to describe God as loving, always present, forgiving, fatherly or just and rather used terms such as critical or angry. In line with the findings of other authors [27,50,51], it may be assumed that survivors of a childhood trauma experience a negative self-perception, feelings of shame and being unworthy and that they transmit their negative feelings to a spiritual dimension [52]. The victims' sense of being loved and accepted by God can be disrupted [53], and they can have difficulty in believing in God's love [54,55].…”

Associations of childhood trauma experiences with religious and spiritual struggles

“…In another case study (Proctor et al, 2019) the experiences of CT were related to divine struggles and interpersonal struggles. After all, there is the well-described fact of lower adult spirituality or diminished religiosity after a history of CT (Song et al, 2016;Tailor et al, 2014). There are two possible explanations for these results.…”

Development of personnel safety awareness scale (PSAS) for 3th. and 4th. grade primary school students

“…In addition to social problems such as run away from home and adolescent pregnancy (Roberts, O'Connor, Dunn, Golding & ALSPAC, 2004), it is stated that the life satisfaction (Nickel et al, 2004;Fergusson, Geraldine, Mcleod & Horwood, 2013) and academic success of these children have decreased (Boden, Horwood & Fergusson, 2007;Currie & Spatz Widom, 2010). In addition, they experience various problems in interpersonal relationships (Csorba, Tsikouras, Lampe & Poka, 2012;Tailor, Piotrowski, Woodgate & Letourneau, 2014). Sexual abuse, which results in a serious physical, psychological and social injury, causes a wide range of mental problems such as anxiety, depression, self-harm, suicide attempt (Paolucci, Genuis & Violato, 2001, Fergussonet al, 2013Maniglio, 2014), eating disorders, risky sexual behavior, substance abuse (Nickel et al, 2004;Dube et al, 2005;Fergusson et al, 2013) in adult life.…”