NCJ Number
144439
Journal
Journal of Interpersonal Violence Volume: 8 Issue: 3 Dated: (September 1993) Pages: 331-345
Date Published
1993
Length
15 pages
Annotation
This review of research on the effects of childhood sexual abuse notes that the severity and specific form of these effects vary across individual victims and according to the developmental stage of the victim.
Abstract
The immediate and short-term effects of childhood sexual abuse may appear less severe than long-term effects. Adolescents who experienced childhood sexual abuse may have general negative emotions toward the self and the body due to stigmatization, negative self-concepts based on the view that they contributed to the abuse, or self-concepts based totally or partly on negative sexual terminology. They may have difficulties in peer relationships, including an aversion to sexual intimacy during adulthood, unusually frequent sexual activity, and associations with lower status peer groups at increased risk of problems such as drug abuse and delinquency. The trauma of childhood sexual abuse may also progressively accumulate as the victim matures through later developmental stages. Assessment and treatment issues may also vary with the victim's developmental stage. Further research is needed to clarify such issues as the stage of development at which the impact is the most severe, the specific form of the impact at different stages, the course of the impacts over time, and the interaction between developmental issues and other factors. Notes and 33 references