Opinions on the traumatizing effects of child sexual abuse: evidence for consensus

The aim of the study was to investigate peoples' views of characteristics associated with child sexual abuse (CSA) and place them in order of severity for subsequent trauma. Clinically relevant characteristics of CSA were presented in the form of a questionnaire to a sample of professionals working with CSA, a sample of student nonprofessionals and a sample of patients with eating disorders including a high proportion of CSA victims. A significant consensus existed across the three samples in the ranked order of characteristics from most to least severe for perceived adverse long-term outcome. Respondent sex, social class, or past sexual abuse experience had no significant effect on this concordance. The findings of this study have shown that professional, nonprofessional, and psychiatric patients opinions on CSA severity are consistent and coincide with clinical observations and empirical evidence. It is argued that a shared consensus on traumatic effects of CSA characteristics is important for the therapeutic process and may prove useful as a guideline for the assessment of severity in CSA cases.