Suicide attempts among men with histories of child sexual abuse: Examining abuse severity, mental health, and masculine norms

The Disclosure Experiences of Male Child Sexual Abuse Survivors

“…The literature on CSA supported claims for PTSD (Ullman, 2003) as well as generalized anxiety (Hunter, 2011;Deering, & Mellor, 2011) and sleep disturbances (Chen, et al, 2010;Noll, Trickett, Susman, & Putman, 2006). Depression, suicidality and suicide attempts were all too common amongst the sample of men interviewed; which has also been highlighted by several authors in the past (Hunter, 2011; Deering, & Mellor, 2011;Denov, 2004;Easton, Renner, & O'Leary, 2013;Alaggia, & Millington, 2008;Valente, 2005). The impact of CSA led a good number of men to struggle at some point in their lives with various common emotions such as embarrassment, guilt and shame.…”

“…CSA affects men and women, and yet by focusing greater attention on females, both in the literature and in regards to services (Alaggia, & Millington, 2008;Diamanduros, et al, 2012; Dubé, et al, 2005;Easton, Renner, & O'Leary, 2013;O'Leary, & Gould, 2010;Sorsoli, et al, 2008;Ullman, 2003;Valente, 2005), society contributes to telling men that their abuse history is less important. By examining interviews conducted with men regarding their experience with CSA disclosure, a voice will be given to a segment of the sexual abuse population that is all too often pushed aside in the literature to give place to the dominant female perspective.…”

“…Studies that address CSA generally focus solely on female victims, and when they include men in their samples, the numbers are often so small that their experiences become either overlooked or lumped-in with those of female survivors (Alaggia, & Millington, 2008;Diamanduros, et al, 2012;Dubé, et al, 2005;Easton, Renner, & O'Leary, 2013;O'Leary, & Gould, 2010;Sorsoli, et al, 2008;Ullman, 2003;Valente, 2005). While female victims of CSA are indeed more common than male victims, their experience becomes the norm as the abuse history of men are often ignored by researchers (Price-Robertson, 2012).…”

Childhood Abuse and Mental Health Problems: Does Gender Matter?

“…Wallace et al [3, p. 2] argued that ''prisons are the largest institution housing the mentally ill.'' Indeed, research has found a high prevalence of mental health disorders among inmates compared with the general population [4][5][6][7]. In particular, there is evidence that female prisoners are more likely than male prisoners to suffer from psychiatric disorders [8,9] and to have been victims of multiple forms of child abuse [10]. A national survey of the Israel Prison Service [11] revealed a higher prevalence of psychiatric disorders among female inmates compared with male inmates (23.9 and 6.5 %, respectively); similar findings were reported in the United States (73 and 55 %, respectively) [12].…”

Men's mental health: coming out of the closet?

“…While female survivors may be more likely to internalise their emotional pain, males externalise it 15 and male survivors are more likely to attempt suicide. 16 There is also evidence that some specific groups of men are more likely to experience mental health problems. A recent large UK survey found that 21% of gay and bisexual men reported being depressed within the last 12 months; 17% were anxious, 7% had self-harmed and 3% had attempted suicide.…”