| Abstract: | The purpose of this study was to investigate traumagenic effects among adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse. Subjects were 400 female undergraduates, including 100 who reported sexual contact with a significantly older person prior to the age of 16. Data from the Impact of Event Scale revealed a predominant pattern of moderately high avoidance/low intrusion among subjects reporting symptoms of stress response. Overt force (use of weapons or physical force, or fear of death associated with violence) was the most significant predictor of long-term distress. Covert force (e.g., powerlessness inherent in the child/older perpetrator dyad) also had a powerful, although less significant impact. Subjects who experienced physical or psychological abuse were also identified from among the total sample. Long-term traumagenic effects for the three types of abuse (physical, psychological, and sexual) were compared. Women who met study criteria for all three forms of maltreatment revealed a greater degree of dissociation than any other abuse group. The Dissociative Experiences Scale was compared by factor analysis with the Dissociative Symptom Inventory. A high degree of association was found between the two measures although much information was also unique to each scale. The results of this study are interpreted as supporting the Horowitz model of Stress Response Syndromes. |
|---|