Relationship between exposure to sexual abuse in childhood and adolescence and parenting style

Abstract

Introduction: Sexual violence can be treated as a public health problem because of its high prevalence worldwide and the negative physical and mental impacts. Objective: Investigate the relationship between parenting styles and the occurrence of sexual violence experienced by adolescents and young adults at some point in life. Methods: Validated instruments were applied to a population of university students to assess the presence or absence of sexual violence (Questionnaire on Exposure to Traumatizing Events) and parenting style Parenting Styles Inventory (PSI). The initial statistical analysis was descriptive and inferential, applying multivariate logistic regression and assessing the risk factors for sexual violence associated with parenting styles. Results: Of the 858 students who responded to the survey, 71 (8.3%) were the victims of sexual violence and 52 (73.0%) were female. The PSI showed that in victims of sexual violence, less protective styles predominate (p=0.002), with higher scores in the following practices: inconsistent punishment (p=0.003), negligence (p=0.001), negative monitoring (p=0.017), and physical abuse (p<0.001). The logistic regression shows that the chance of an individual being a victim increases by 11.0% with each increase in the score of negligence and 23.4% with each increase in the physical abuse score. As for positive monitoring, the chance of an individual being a victim decreases by 10.0% with each increase in the score (p=0.009). Conclusion: Parenting styles directly influence the possibility of sexual abuse occurring monitoring is a protective factor, while neglect and physical abuse (punishment) increase the individual’s risk of being a victim.