Effects of child and adult sexual abuse on adult sexuality

Bartoi, Marla; Kinder, Bill N.

doi:10.1080/00926239808404921

Cited by 72 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…However, other age cut-offs have also been reported, including age 17 (e.g., Paul, Catania, Pollack, & Stall, 2001;Walser & Kern, 1996) age 16 (e.g., Bartoi & Kinder, 1998;Kalichman, Gore-Felton, Benotsch, Cage, & Rompa, 2004), age 15 (e.g., Jinich et al, 1998;Mayall & Gold, 1995), age 14 (e.g., Merrill, Guimond, Thomsen, & Milner, 2003), and age 13 (e.g., Carballo-Dieguez & Dolezal, 1995;DiIorio, Hartwell, & Hansen, 2002).…”

Section: Nih-pa Author Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Women who were incarcerated were more likely to have traded sex, to have engaged in unprotected anal sex, had multiple partners, had sex with someone who injects drugs, and to be infected with HIV (McClanahan, McClelland, Abram, & Teplin, 1999;Mullings, Marquart, & Brewer, 2000;Stevens et al, 1995). Among homeless women, CSA was associated with sex trading (Simons & Whitbeck, 1991).A few studies failed to find hypothesized differences between CSA and non-CSA groups on some sexual behavior outcomes, including age at first intercourse, the number of sexual partners, the frequency of intercourse, the frequency of condom use, the frequency of sex while using drugs, having an STD, or HIV status (Bartoi & Kinder, 1998;Medrano, Desmond, Zule, & Hatch, 1999;Noell, Rohde, Seeley, & Ochs, 2001;Vlahov et al, 1998). Relatively small samples of women reporting CSA may have led to low power to detect a small effect in some of these studies (e.g., Bartoi & Kinder, 1998;Medrano et al, 1999;Noell et al, 2001).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Childhood and adolescent sexual abuse and subsequent sexual risk behavior: Evidence from controlled studies, methodological critique, and suggestions for research

Senn¹,

Carey²,

Vanable³

2008

Clinical Psychology Review

289

309

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Childhood and adolescent sexual abuse (CSA) is associated with a wide variety of adverse psychological and health outcomes, including negative sexual health outcomes. In this paper, we review the literature investigating the relation between CSA and subsequent sexual risk behaviors among men and women. Previous research has found a relatively consistent association between CSA and higher rates of sexual risk behaviors, particularly sex trading, more sexual partners, and an earlier age of first intercourse. However, there are a number of limitations to this research, including lack of a consistent definition of CSA, failure to investigate gender as a moderator, and possible confounding of the CSA experience with some of the sexual behavior outcome variables. Further, although there appears to be an association between CSA and later sexual risk behavior, researchers have not established whether this association is causal. Suggestions for future research and implications for clinical practice are discussed.The association between childhood and adolescent sexual abuse (CSA) and adverse psychological functioning has been well-documented, in both literature reviews (e.g., Beitchman, Zucker, Hood, daCosta, & Akman, 1991;Beitchman et al., 1992) and metaanalyses (e.g., Jumper, 1995;Paolucci, Genuis, & Violato, 2001). Recently, researchers have also documented an association between CSA and adverse health outcomes, including sexual health outcomes (e.g., Bartholow et al., 1994;Senn, Carey, Vanable, Coury-Doniger, & Urban, 2006). However, few systematic reviews of this literature have been undertaken. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to review the literature investigating the relation between CSA and subsequent sexual risk behavior, and to provide researchers with directions for future studies in this area. In this paper, we first review how CSA has been defined, and then review measures used to assess CSA. Next, we briefly summarize the mental health outcomes of CSA. The bulk of the paper examines findings from previous studies investigating the association between CSA and subsequent sexual behavior. Finally, we conclude by suggesting directions for future studies, and discussing practice implications. Definition of CSAThe definition of CSA has varied widely across studies. First, researchers have used different age criteria for "childhood sexual abuse." Often, this term is used to refer to sexual abuse that Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. NIH Public Access Author ManuscriptClin Psychol Rev. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2009 June 1. NIH-PA Author M...

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Section: Nih-pa Author Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Childhood and adolescent sexual abuse and subsequent sexual risk behavior: Evidence from controlled studies, methodological critique, and suggestions for research

Senn¹,

Carey²,

Vanable³

2008

Clinical Psychology Review

289

309

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“…This has been documented in clinical populations and populations at high risk of contracting HIV (Cunningham, Stiffman, Dor6, & Earls, 1994;Parillo, Freeman, Collier, & Young, 2(X)1; Tsai, FeldmanSununers, & Edgar, 1979;Walser & Kern, 1996;Zierler et al, 1991) as well as in undergraduate (Johnsen & Harlow, 1996) and community (Wyatt, 1988) samples. However, a number of other studies have found no relationship between CSA and number of sex partners (Bartoi & Kinder, 1998;Noll, Trickett, & Putnam, 2000;Widom & Kuhns, 1996).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In studies comparing sexually abused and nonabused women, abused women reported more negative reactions to sex (Charmoli & Athelstan, 1988;E. Gold, 1986;Johnsen & Harlow, 1996), more sexual avoidance (Matorin, 1999; but see Bartoi & Kinder, 1998), more sexual aversion (Wenninger & Heiman, 1998), and less sexual arousal (Fleming, Mullen, Sibthorpe, & Bammer, 1999;Wenninger & Heiman, 1998). In addition, compared with nonabused women, sexually abused women reported more sexual problems (Elliott & Briere, 1992;Fleming et al, 1999;Mullen, Martin, Anderson, Romans, & Herbison, 1996) and a greater prevalence of sexual disorders (Saunders, Villeponteaux, Lipovsky, Kilpatrick, & Veronen, 1992).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Child Sexual Abuse and Number of Sexual Partners in Young Women: The Role of Abuse Severity, Coping Style, and Sexual Functioning.

Merrill¹,

Guimond²,

Thomsen³

et al. 2003

Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology

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The authors proposed and tested a model describing distinct pathways through which childhood sexual abuse (CSA) may lead to relatively low or high numbers of sexual partners in adulthood. Path analyses were conducted on survey responses of young female U.S. Navy recruits who reported CSA (N ϭ 547). Use of avoidant strategies to cope with CSA was expected to produce higher levels of sexual problems and fewer heterosexual sex partners, whereas use of self-destructive coping strategies was expected to result in more dysfunctional sexual behavior and more heterosexual sex partners. As predicted, the effect of CSA on number of sex partners was largely mediated by coping strategies and dysfunctional sexual behavior.Child sexual abuse (CSA) has been associated with numerous negative outcomes, including anxiety, depression, suicide attempts, low self-esteem, substance abuse, and problems with trust and intimacy (for reviews, see Beitchman et al., 1992;Browne & Finkelhor, 1986;Green, 1993). One of the most frequently reported findings is that sexually abused women are at increased risk for sexual difficulties ranging from avoidance of sex to compulsive sexual behavior (Browne & Finkelhor, 1986;Green, 1993;Polsuny & Follette, 1995). Finkelhor and Browne (1985) proposed that CSA might produce seemingly opposing outcomes-"aversion to sex" versus "sexual promiscuity"-through the process of traumatic sexualization.Traumatic sexualization refers to the shaping of a child's sexuality in an interpersonally dysfunctional manner, leading to lasting inappropriate associations with sexual activity and arousal. Specifically, if a child experiences high levels of revulsion, fear, anger, or powerlessness during CSA, he or she may be conditioned to associate sex with negative emotions and memories. These negative emotional reactions may subsequently generalize to nonabusive sexual experiences in adulthood, leading to sexual dysfunction, including phobic reactions to sexual intimacy and avoid-ance of sex. In other cases, CSA experiences may teach the child to associate rewards, attention, and affection with engaging in sexual behavior. If this occurs, adults sexually abused as children may use sex to meet nonsexual needs (e.g., seeking love through sex, sexualizing nonsexual relationships, or using sex to manipulate others), and sexual promiscuity may result. Finkelhor and Browne's (1985) conceptualization of traumatic sexualization thus suggests that some adults sexually abused as children will engage in sexual activity with many partners, whereas others will engage in little sexual activity and have few partners.Research on sexual behavior in adults sexually abused as children has generally found that sexually abused respondents have more sex partners than nonabused respondents. This has been documented in clinical populations and populations at high risk of contracting HIV (

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“…Women presenting for a third or more abortions were more than 2.5 times as likely as those seeking a first abortion to report a history of sexual abuse [6] . Study results are inconsistent, however [1,8] . Women with a history of CSA may have reduced confidence in their abilities as a mother [11] , as well as difficulties in using contraception reliably [7,28,36] .…”

Section: Abortionsmentioning

confidence: 69%

Prenatal care in adult women exposed to childhood sexual abuse

Leeners

Stiller

Block³

et al. 2012

Journal of Perinatal Medicine

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Aims: Several case reports show a negative impact of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) on prenatal care. The study aimed to systematically investigate this association in a larger study group. Methods: CSA was investigated by face-to-face interviews and by a modified questionnaire developed by Wyatt. All study participants completed a self-administered questionnaire designed to investigate the consequences of CSA on prenatal care during adulthood. Data from 85 women after CSA were compared to those of 170 matched women without such experiences. Results: Women exposed to CSA had fewer than five prenatal consultations more often than unexposed women (26 % /7 % ; P < 0.0001). Of the 85 women with a positive history for CSA, 9.4 % had been asked for such antecedents, 36.5 % had intense memories on original abuse situations during pregnancy, 56.6 % mentioned specific consequences of CSA on prenatal care and 61.2 % were satisfied with obstetrical support. Exposed women (62.4 % ) felt significantly less prepared for labor than unexposed women (75.9 % ) (P < 0.0001). Conclusions: CSA experiences are associated with impaired prenatal care. These results underscore the compelling need to improve prenatal care in women exposed to CSA through better education of obstetricians regarding the effects of CSA and in their ability to provide empathetic professional support.

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Effects of child and adult sexual abuse on adult sexuality

Cited by 72 publications

References 21 publications

Childhood and adolescent sexual abuse and subsequent sexual risk behavior: Evidence from controlled studies, methodological critique, and suggestions for research

Childhood and adolescent sexual abuse and subsequent sexual risk behavior: Evidence from controlled studies, methodological critique, and suggestions for research

Child Sexual Abuse and Number of Sexual Partners in Young Women: The Role of Abuse Severity, Coping Style, and Sexual Functioning.

Prenatal care in adult women exposed to childhood sexual abuse

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