Mediators of the long-term impact of child sexual abuse: Perceived stigma, betrayal, powerlessness, and self-blame

Coffey, Patricia S.; Leitenberg, Harold; Henning, Kris; Turner, Tonia; Bennett, Robert T.

doi:10.1016/0145-2134(96)00019-1

Cited by 197 publications

(134 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Consistent with previous work on adults, penetration at T1 was related to more abuse-specific self-blame (Coffey et al, 1996;Steel et al, 2004). This suggests that victims who were penetrated are particularly vulnerable to viewing themselves as at fault for the abuse.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

“…Few studies have considered the relation between abuse severity and abuse-specific attributions, and the findings are inconsistent. More abuse-specific self-blame was associated with severity of CSA in adults, but perpetrator-blame was not assessed (Coffey et al, 1996;Steel, Sanna, Hammond, Whipple, & Cross, 2004). No relation was found between self-ratings of severity and self-or perpetratorblame in adolescent victims of CSA, although this may have been due to consistently high severity ratings across all CSA participants (McGee et al, 2001).…”

Section: Abuse Severity and Abuse-specific Attributionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Typically victims attribute more blame to the perpetrator than the self (Feiring et al, 2002;McGee et al, 2001;Spaccarelli, 1995). Most of the knowledge about abuse-specific attributions comes from children assessed within six months of the time the CSA is reported to child protective services (referred to here as abuse discovery) or from adults seen long after the abuse has occurred (e.g., Coffey, Leitenberg, Henning, Turner, & Bennet, 1996;Hunter et al, 1992;McGee et al, 2001). Little is known about how abuse-specific attributions around the time of abuse discovery are related to changes in attributions in the short-and long-term.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Childhood sexual abuse and abuse-specific attributions of blame over 6 years following discovery

Feiring

Cleland

2007

Child Abuse & Neglect

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Objective-The purpose of this study was to examine patterns of change in attributions for childhood sexual abuse (CSA) over a 6-year period and whether such patterns were related to abuse severity, age, gender, and subsequent symptoms of depression and PTSD.Methodology-One-hundred and sixty children, 8-15 years old, were interviewed within 8 weeks of the time the CSA was reported to child protective services (i.e., the time of abuse discovery). Follow-up interviews were conducted 1-year later on 147, and 6 years later on 121 of the original participants. Abuse-specific attributions were obtained using two methods. Participants first responded to an open-ended interview question about why they believed the CSA had happened to them and then completed a rating scale about the extent to which possible attributions for the CSA applied to them (e.g., "Because I was not smart enough").Results-Over time, perpetrator-blame attributions were consistently more common than selfblame attributions for CSA (using both interview and rating measures). Youth were more likely to report self-blame attributions on the rating measure than the open-ended interview question. The interview method indicated that youth often felt confused about why the abuse happened up to a year following discovery but this response diminished by the third assessment. On average, ratings of perpetrator-blame attribution remained high over time (p<.05), whereas ratings of self-blame decreased (p<.01). Penetration was related to more self-blame (p<.05) and less perpetrator-blame (p<.05), and the use of force was related to more perpetrator-blame. The initial level of self-blame attribution ratings predicted subsequent symptoms of depression (p<.05) and intrusive experiences (p<.05) after controlling for age at abuse discovery, gender, and self-blame attributions for common events. Perpetrator-blame attributions were not related to symptoms.Conclusions-The findings of this study suggest that assessing responses to open-ended interview questions about the perceived reasons for the abuse and ratings of attributions are important for understanding how youth make sense of their abuse. Abuse-specific self-blame attributions at abuse discovery have a persistent effect on internalizing symptoms and should be assessed and the target of treatment as soon as possible after CSA has been reported to the authorities.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

Section: Abuse Severity and Abuse-specific Attributionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Childhood sexual abuse and abuse-specific attributions of blame over 6 years following discovery

Feiring

Cleland

2007

Child Abuse & Neglect

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“…In a cross-sectional study of women who reported CSA, the relation between abuse severity and psychological distress was mediated by shame and attributions of self-blame (Coffey, Leitenberg, Henning, Turner, & Bennet, 1996). Previous results from this study provide support for concurrent mediational effects at the time of abuse discovery.…”

supporting

confidence: 56%

Adjustment following sexual abuse discovery: The role of shame and attributional style.

Feiring¹,

Taska²,

Lewis³

2002

Developmental Psychology

223

190

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This study examined adjustment following sexual abuse as a function of shame and attributional style. One hundred forty-seven participants (83 children and 64 adolescents) were seen at the time of abuse discovery and again 1 year later. Once adjustment at abuse discovery was accounted for, shame and attribution style explained additional variation in subsequent adjustment, whereas abuse severity did not. A pessimistic attribution style at abuse discovery moderated the relation between severity of abuse and subsequent depressive symptoms and self-esteem. The relations between abuse severity and these outcomes were significant only at high levels of pessimistic attribution style. Of note, patterns of change in shame and attribution predicted which children remained at risk or improved in adjustment. In addition, age and gender differences were found in adjustment over time.The past decade has seen a considerable increase in the number of studies focusing on sexual abuse and its relation to child outcomes. Child sexual abuse (CSA), in both clinical and nonclinical samples, has been consistently associated with a number of adjustment problems, including depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and poor self

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“…Self-blame involves a feeling of being responsible for the negative actions of other people (Coffey, Leitenberg, Henning, Turner & Bennet, 1996).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experiences of Emotional Abuse Among Women Living With HIV and AIDS in Malawi

Chilemba

Wyk

Leech

2014

Health Care for Women International

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Mediators of the long-term impact of child sexual abuse: Perceived stigma, betrayal, powerlessness, and self-blame

Cited by 197 publications

References 17 publications

Childhood sexual abuse and abuse-specific attributions of blame over 6 years following discovery

Childhood sexual abuse and abuse-specific attributions of blame over 6 years following discovery

Adjustment following sexual abuse discovery: The role of shame and attributional style.

Experiences of Emotional Abuse Among Women Living With HIV and AIDS in Malawi

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