Classes of Childhood Sexual Abuse and Women’s Adult Couple Relationships

Abstract

The current study assessed if childhood sexual abuse (CSA) can be meaningfully classified into classes, based on the assumption that abuse by a close family member differs in important ways from other abuse, and whether abuse classes were differentially associated with couple relationship problems. The childhood experiences and adult relationships of 1335 Australian women (18-41 years) were assessed. Latent class analysis identified three classes of CSA: that perpetrated by a family member, friend, or stranger, which differed markedly on most aspects of the abuse. Family abuse was associated with the highest risk for adult relationship problems, with other classes of CSA having a significant but weaker association with adult relationship problems. CSA is heterogeneous with respect the long-term consequences for adult relationship functioning.

Avoidant and compulsive sexual behaviors in male and female survivors of childhood sexual abuse

“…In the SEM analyses, CSA severity was operationalized by three characteristics of the sexual experience which were used as indicators of a latent factor: the chronicity of abuse, the type of act perpetrated, and the relationship with the perpetrator. These characteristics were coded so that a high score indicated a greater severity of the abuse as suggested by current literature considering these characteristics (Watson & Halford, 2010;Whisman, 2006). Chronicity of abuse represented the number of times the abuse occurred and was coded from 0 (nonvictim), 1 (one time), 2 (two to five times), to 3 (more than five times).…”

“…Child sexual abuse (CSA) survivors form a heterogeneous population and it is now well-established that the short-and long-term course of these experiences vary according to personal/familial pre-traumatic vulnerabilities, the nature and severity of the abuse and the quality of familial, social and professional support offered to the survivors (e.g., Godbout, Briere, Lussier, & Sabourin, 2014;Hébert, 2011;Liang, Williams, & Siegel, 2006;Watson & Halford, 2010). In their landmark longitudinal study, Trickett, Noll, and Putnam (2011) also pointed out that, in some cases, symptoms emerge more clearly over time, at critical periods of development.…”

“…For CSA survivors, the formation of a cohabiting or married relationship may represent such a critical period where romantic attachment, intimacy, and sexual issues coincide to create certain challenges during young and middle adulthood. The current scientific literature suggests that many adult CSA survivors have difficulty forming close relationships and report more instability in these relationships as well as poorer dyadic adjustment (DiLillo & Long, 1999;Larson, Newell, Holman, & Feinauer, 2007;Liang et al, 2006;Miller, Schaefer, Renshaw, & Blais, 2013;Whisman, 2006), more severe domestic violence (Whitfield, Anda, Dube, & Felitti, 2003;Widom, Czaja, & Dutton, 2014), and elevated rates of relationship dissolution (Colman & Widom, 2004;Watson & Halford, 2010;Whisman, 2006). When present, these long-term negative repercussions of CSA have been explained through chronic and dysfunctional self-and partner-schemas characterized by confusion, fear, shame, self-denigration, feelings of emptiness, deep mistrust, aggressiveness, etc.…”

“…Some studies have revealed that the magnitude of the association between CSA and relationship maladjustment is small and sometimes non-significant, indicating that many CSA survivors develop satisfying romantic relationships as adults (Berthelot, Godbout, Hébert, Goulet, & Bergeron, 2014;DiLillo, Lewis, & Loreto-Colgan, 2007;Larsen, Sandberg, Harper, & Bean, 2011;Nelson & Wampler, 2000;Watson & Halford, 2010). These studies have demonstrated that the association between CSA and relationship adjustment is probably indirect and mediated by key variables playing a role in the development of these long-term consequences.…”

Child Sexual Abuse and Women's Sexual Health: The Contribution of CSA Severity and Exposure to Multiple Forms of Childhood Victimization

“…Furthermore, more severe CSA (including penetration or attempted penetration) may lead to greater traumatic sexualization and consequently to greater sexual risk behaviors that could further compromise women's sexual health (Lemieux & Byers, 2008). Some recent empirical work has also found that CSA severity as well as other covarying family dysfunction such as witnessing or experiencing childhood physical or psychological violence may be associated with the worst outcomes (Watson & Halford, 2010). Identifying which subgroups of CSA survivors are at increased risk of experiencing more adverse sexual outcomes may provide researchers and clinicians crucial information for differential prevention and intervention programs (Clemmons et al, 2003).…”