Childhood Sexual Abuse

Abstract

A sample of 80 college women retrospectively reporting childhood sexual abuse and 92 college women failing to report any history of abuse were examined to investigate the patterns of family functioning existing in the homes of childhood sexual abuse victims. In addition, the relationship between family functioning and the occurrence of various patterns of abuse was explored. Using a typology based on the Family Environment Scale, women's families were classified by type. Results indicated that victims and nonvictims were not equally distributed across the family types. More victims than nonvictims were found to have been reared in disorganized families, and fewer victims than nonvictims were found to have been reared in support-oriented families. No significant relationships were evident between family functioning and abuse characteristics. The relationship between these family types and risk for abuse is discussed.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Alexander, P. C. , & Lupfer, S. L. (1987). Family characteristics and long-term consequences associated with sexual abuse. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 16, 235-245.

Billings, A. G. , & Moos, R. H. (1982). Family environment and adaptation: A clinically applicable typology. American Journal of Family Therapy, 10, 26-38.

Davis, C. , & Graybill, D. (1983). Comparisons of family environments of abused versus non-abused children. Psychology: A Quarterly Journal of Human Behavior, 20, 34-36.

Finkelhor, D. (1979). Sexually victimized children. New York: Free Press.

Finkelhor, D. (1984). Child sexual abuse: New theory and research. New York: Free Press.

Gruber, K. , & Jones, R. (1983). Identifying determinants of risk of sexual victimization of youth. Child Abuse & Neglect, 7, 17-24.

Harter, S. , Alexander, P. C. , & Neimeyer, R. A. (1988). Long-term effects of incestuous child abuse in college women: Social adjustment, social cognition, and family characteristics. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 56, 5-8.

Jackson, J. , Calhoun, K. , Amick, A. , Maddever, H. , & Habif, V. (1990). Young adult women who experienced childhood intrafamilial sexual abuse: Subsequent adjustment. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 19, 211-221.

Messner, S. , Shipp, D. , Jackson, J. , Edison, J. , Townsley, R. , Burke, M. , Chandler, K. , & Long, P. (1988, March). Reliability of adults' reports of childhood sexual abuse. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Southeastern Psychological Association, New Orleans, LA.

10.

Moos, R. H. , & Moos, B. S. (1976). A typology of family social environments. Family Process, 15, 357-371.

11.

Moos, R. H. , & Moos, B. S. (1986). Family Environment Scale manual. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.

12.

Myers, J. K. , & Bean, L. L. (1968). A decade later: A follow-up of social class and mental illness. New York: Wiley.

13.

Perry, M. , Wells, E. , & Doran, L. (1983). Parent characteristics in abusing and non-abusing families. Journal of Child Clinical Psychology, 12, 329-336.

14.

Ray, K. C. , Jackson, J. L. , & Townsley, R. M. (1991). Family environments of victims of intrafamilial and extrafamilial child sexual abuse. Journal of Family Violence, 6, 365-374.

15.

Straus, M. A. , Gelles, R. , & Steinmetz, S. (1980). Behind closed doors: Violence in the American family. New York: Doubleday.