The Contribution of Family Background to the Long-Term Adjustment of Women Sexually Abused as Children

Abstract

The current study tested the relative influence of relationship variables in the family of origin and sexual abuse characteristics in predicting the long-term adjustment of child sexual abuse survivors. A total of 103 subjects, 45 of whom had histories of sexual abuse, completed self-report measures of perceived parental conflict, paternal dominance, current psychological distress, social support and dyadic relationships, and a questionnaire on their experiences of childhood sexual abuse. Persons with histories of sexual abuse reported greater parental conflict than did their nonabused counterparts. On the basis of multiple regression analyses in which sexual abuse variables and family variables were entered simultaneously, parental conflict, paternal dominance, and sexual abuse made independent contributions to subjects' psychosocial adjustment. These findings support the importance of family relationships in the long-term adjustment of victims of both intrafamilial and extrafamilial child sexual abuse.