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The long-term impact of childhood sexual abuse in Australian women
J Fleming1, P E Mullen, B Sibthorpe
1National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, Australian National University, Canberra.
Objective:
The aim of this study was to examine the association between childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and a range of adverse adult outcomes in a community sample of women using multivariate analysis which accounted for a number of potential confounding effects.
Method:
Retrospective study of cross-sectional data on the long-term impact of CSA, collected as part of a larger two-stage case-control study of the possible relationship between CSA and alcohol abuse. Data were appropriately weighted to adjust for the different selection probabilities of cases and controls.
Results:
Significant associations were found between reporting CSA and experiencing domestic violence, rape, sexual problems, mental health problems, low self-esteem, and problems with intimate relationships even after taking into account a range of family background factors. Women who had experienced abuse involving intercourse were the most vulnerable to these negative outcomes.
Conclusions:
The findings indicate that the influence of CSA on adverse long-term effects is mediated and influenced both by the severity of the abuse experiences and by a range of family and social background factors.