Childhood sexual abuse and affective symptoms in women: a general population study

Child sexual abuse (CSA) is associated, after controlling for other adversities, with a range of non-psychotic disorders in adult life. There is a need to clarify whether CSA contributes to risk of disorder in the absence of such adversities, and given that associations may be accounted for by genetic mechanisms, whether they are seen where the perpetrator of CSA is not a biological relative, and where there has been only one incident.

A questionnaire-based study of a socio-economically representative sample of women age 25-36 (N = 862) was carried out. Parental care and control were assessed using the Parental Bonding Instrument, and CSA using a previously validated questionnaire. Current affective symptoms were assessed from the depression scale of the GHQ-28.

Low maternal and paternal care were associated with risk of abuse by a biologically unrelated perpetrator before the age of 11, but not during early adolescence. Low maternal care and CSA each made independent contributions to the prediction of affective symptoms. CSA by a non-relative was strongly associated with GHQ depression, as was CSA by a non-relative that had occurred only once.

Quality of parental care probably influences risk of CSA by unrelated abusers in younger children, while there may be a combination of genetic and parental influences on the risk of abuse by a relative. The strong association of affective symptoms in adult life with CSA by a non-relative suggests an environmental effect. Studies, utilizing genetic designs, of the role of childhood trauma in relation to adult affective symptoms are needed.