Negative Effects Of Abuse Research Articles

“Bedtime is when bad stuff happens”: Sleep problems in foster care alumni

There is substantial evidence documenting the importance of sleep for positive health and mental health. However, many young adults struggle with getting the sufficient quantity and quality of sleep each night. Individuals who have a history of adverse experiences may be at greater risk for sleep problems. While most studies of sleep and trauma have explored issues such as participating in combat, natural disasters, and child maltreatment, few have focused on the impact of being in foster care. Youth in care have not only the negative effects of abuse and neglect but the challenges of housing instability and adjustment to new caregivers and settings. The current study aimed to learn more about sleep in young adults who have spent time in foster care. Using qualitative data gathered from interviews with 24 foster care alumni, this study examined sleep before entering care, while youth lived in care, and after leaving care and establishing their independence as adults. Three areas were examined across time periods: 1) experience/context of sleep problems; 2) symptoms/behaviors related to sleep problems; and 3) coping strategies for poor sleep and its consequences. Youths' problems with sleep appeared to have greatly impacted their lives and had negative effects upon their relationships, employment, school, and even their foster care placement experiences. Recommendations are made for education about the relationship between trauma and sleep and for interventions that specifically target sleep, such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia.

Child Sexual Abuse and Adolescent and Adult Adjustment: A Review of British and World Evidence, with Implications for Social Work, and Mental Health and School Counselling

We offer a narrative review of the findings of available British research on the sexual abuse of children, and its behavioural and mental health sequels in adolescent and adult adjustment, and link this to the growing world literature on child abuse, which frequently occurs within family settings. The evidence shows that around 9% of women, and about 3% of men have experienced prolonged, bodily intrusive abuse by the age of 16 or 18. This has many adverse sequels including impaired self-esteem, clinical levels of depression and anxiety, self-harm and substance abuse, somatic disorders, and many forms of maladaptation. Poly-victimisation combining physical, sexual and emotional abuse has particularly negative impacts. The long-term burden in human suffering and public health costs is high. In school, abuse victims are often bullied and isolated in school, which exacerbates (or even triggers) the negative effects of abuse. Teachers and school counsellors and social workers have an important role to play in identifying abuse victims, and offering help in ways which prevents the development of serious mental health problems.

Social support, stress, and depression among battered women in the judicial setting*1

Abstract Background : Violence has become a major health problem. Battered women have increasingly entered the health care system for treatment of physical injuries, stress-related illnesses, and psychiatric disorders. Objectives : This study sought to measure the levels of social support, stress, and depression and to evaluate the relationship among these variables in battered women who were seeking a “protection from abuse” order. Study Design : A descriptive cohort design was used. Results : The battered women exhibited high levels of stress and moderate-severe degrees of depression. The women were found to experience suicidal ideation and disturbances in sleep and nutrition. Relationships among the variables revealed an inverse relationship between social support and stress as well as between social support and depression, suggesting that social support may modulate the negative effects of abuse. Younger women had higher levels of stress and lower social support, which may be reflective of a limited repertoire of coping strategies and an underdeveloped support system. Conclusions : Social support interventions may be beneficial to battered women, particularly young women.

Influence of information related to child physical abuse on professional ratings of adjustment and prognosis

The study investigates the influence of access to information of a history of physical maltreatment on the evaluative responding of social service and clinical psychology professionals. Written vignettes were used in a 2 × 2 × 2 factorial design to manipulate the: (a) presence/absence of abuse history; (b) presence/absence of behavior problems; and (c) gender of the child. Professionals rated children presented in 12 case vignettes along five treatment-related dimensions: (a) overall adjustment; (b) predicted 6 month temporal stability of behavior; (c) likelihood of treatment referral; (d) expected home intervention success; and (e) expected school intervention success. Four dimensions related to social functioning were also rated, including likelihood of the child being: (a) recommended to serve as assistant to teacher; (b) elected as a school activity team leader; (c) elected as a class officer; and (d) nominated as a candidate for successful completion of a summer camp program. The findings verified the influence of information related to a history of maltreatment on professional judgments, despite matched vignette content for all factors other than maltreatment status. The results suggests a possible failure to recognize that some children have been buffered from the negative effects of abuse and point to the risk of erroneous judgments that may be directed toward maltreated children.

Characteristics of Child Sexual Abuse as Correlates of Women's Adjustment: A Prospective Study

Recent theoretical frameworks that explain the effects of childhood sexual abuse have encouraged the study of the associations between certain characteristics of abusive experiences and mental health outcomes. The assessment of abuse characteristics, however, has created a new set of methodological problems for measurement and analysis. This article presents findings on the associations between characteristics of abuse and mental health outcomes from a prospective study of 136 women. The strongest associations were among the experience of physical force and a close victim-offender relationship during abuse and increased levels of current mental health symptoms. Analyses were repeated for both prospective and retrospective accounts of the abuse incident, and the pros and cons of these different sources of information are discussed. Key Words: African American women, child sexual abuse. There is significant evidence of the widespread problem of the sexual abuse of children and its negative long-term consequences. Numerous studies have documented both immediate and long-term effects, including elevated levels of depression, sexual dysfunction, and revictimization among survivors of childhood sexual assault (Beitchman et al., 1992; Briere & Runtz, 1988; Browne & Finkelhor, 1986; Finkelhor, 1990; Kendall-Tackett, Williams, & Finkelhor, 1993; Moeller, Bachmann, & Moeller, 1993; Runtz & Briere, 1986). Researchers have proposed a number of frameworks to account for the links between sexual abuse and its negative consequences (Briere, 1992a; Finkelhor, 1987; Finkelhor & Browne, 1985; Herman, 1992). These include theories that suggest that the trauma of the abuse results in posttraumatic stress (Briere, 1992a; Herman, 1992; Rowan, Foy, Rodriguez, & Ryan, 1994; Wolfe, Sas, & Werkele, 1994) and others that focus on the more diverse emotional consequences of betrayal, stigmatization, traumatic sexualization, and powerlessness (Finkelhor, 1988; Finkelhor & Browne, 1985). Such theories attempt to explain the powerful and negative effects of abuse on survivors, as well as to account for findings that within groups of survivors there may be a wide range of outcomes (Briere, 1992a; Herman, 1992; Janoff-Bulman, 1992; KendallTackett et al., 1993). The development of these frameworks has led to increased attention to how various characteristics of the incident of sexual abuse may relate to long-term consequences (Beitchman, Zucker, Hood, daCosta, & Akman, 1991; Beitchman et al., 1992; Mennen & Meadow, 1995). As Finkelhor (1987) has pointed out, sexual abuse is complex and multidimensional. To appreciate its diverse effects, we may need to go beyond comparisons of abused and nonabused groups. Interest in how various dimensions of sexual abuse might differ within a group of survivors has raised a number of methodological questions. For instance, how should abuse characteristics be defined and assessed, and what are the research consequences of using prospective or retrospective data? The present study's purpose is to further examine links between characteristics of the abuse, such as the use of force, and longterm consequences for survivors and to explore how differences in data collection can impact the investigation of this topic. Two THEORIES OF THE EFFECTS OF SEXUAL ABUSE Researchers in the area of child sexual abuse have noted that the constellation of symptoms observed among abuse survivors matches the diagnostic criteria for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD; Briere, 1992a; Herman, 1992). Herman asserts that psychological trauma occurs when human coping mechanisms are overwhelmed by a force in the face of which the individual is powerless. The overwhelming and threatening nature of trauma leads to a number of negative consequences, including hyperarousal, intrusion of memories of the event through flashbacks and constriction, as well as disconnection from human relationships (Herman, 1992). …

Internal and external mediators of women's sexual abuse in childhood.

A community sample of 111 women's retrospective reports of childhood sexual abuse was examined in an effort to understand the circumstances and coping strategies that mediated the immediate and lasting effects of those stressful experiences. Aspects of single or multiple abuse incidents were captured in 11 variables, each reflecting 1 of 3 domains: circumstances of abuse, mediators, and outcomes (the negative effects of abuse). Observed variable simultaneous path analysis models revealed several direct and mediated influences on the outcomes. Long-term negative outcomes of abuse were directly affected by a close relationship to the perpetrator and severity of abuse from the circumstance of abuse domain, and immediate negative responses, self-blame, and nondisclosure regarding the incident from the mediational domain. The importance of examining factors that mediate the negative effects of child sexual abuse is discussed.