Psychological injury in victims of child sexual abuse: A meta-analytic review

Abstract

In order to assess the effects of child/adolescent sexual abuse (CSA/ASA) on the victim's probability of developing symptoms of depression and anxiety, to quantify injury in populational terms, to establish the probability of injury, and to determine the different effects of moderators on the severity of injury, a meta-analysis was performed. Given the abundant literature, only studies indexed in the scientific database of reference, the Web of Science, were selected. A total of 78 studies met the inclusion criteria: they measured CSA/ASA victimization or injury in terms of depression or anxiety symptoms, measured the effect size or included data for computing them, and provided a description of the sample. The results showed that CSA/ASA victims suffered significant injury, generally of a medium effect size and generalizable, victims had 70% more probabilities of suffering from injury, and clinical diagnosis was significantly a more adequate measure of injury than symptoms. The probability of chronic injury (dysthymia) was greater than developing more severe injury, i.e., major depressive disorder (MDD). In the category of anxiety disorders, injury was expressed with a higher probability in specific phobia. In terms of the victim's gender, females had significantly higher rates of developing a depressive disorder (DD) and/or an anxiety disorder (AD), quantified in a 42% and 24% over the baseline, for a DD and AD respectively. As for the type of abuse, the meta-analysis revealed that abuse involving penetration was linked to severe injury, whereas abuse with no contact was associated to less serious injury. The clinical, social, and legal implications of the results are discussed.

Health Belief Model and Labelling Theory in the Analysis of Preventive Behaviors to Address Biopsychosocial Impacts of Sexual Violence among Street Children in Yogyakarta

“…Steet children informants admitted that if they did not implement the behavior in coping biopsychosocial impacts generated by sexual violence, then sexual violence they experienced would turninto a particular trauma for them and the emotion they felt would be getting bigger if they happened to come across the perpetrators. It is in line with what stated by Amado et al, (2015) that sexual violence criminal act may give serioud impact to the victims such as mental injuries and emotional suffering, major depression disorder, persistent depressive disorder, phobia and anxiety.…”

A Developmental Perspective on the Relationship between Child Sexual Abuse and Depression: A Systematic and Meta‐Analytic Review

“…To the best of our knowledge, no previous meta‐analysis has examined the direct relationship between CSA and depression with a special focus on the age at onset, although an abundance of previous reviews has examined the link between CSA and depression in terms of exposure, occurrence or severity (e.g. Amado et al, ; Lindert et al, ; Neumann et al, ). Some of these articles (e.g.…”

A scoping review of adult survivors’ experiences of shame following sexual abuse in childhood

“…Two recent reviews by Carr, Duff, and Craddock (, ) similarly found that CSA survivors were at a higher risk of a range of psychosocial, physical and mental health difficulties. Systemic reviews have also specifically established that CSA is a risk factor for depression, anxiety, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) (Amado, Arce, & Herraiz, ; Hillberg, Hamilton‐Giachritsis, & Dixon, ); sexual exploitation (De Vries & Goggin, ), intimate partner violence (Li, Zhao, & Yu, ), suicidality (Angelakis, Gillespie & Panagioti, ), substance abuse (Halpern et al, ), and educational difficulties (Fry et al, ). Reviews have also demonstrated a range of psychosocial protective factors that can help reduce risk, including family and social supports, personal attributes, active coping style, a sense of personal influence, and externalising blame for the abuse (Carr, Duff, & Craddock, , ).…”