The long-term impact of child abuse on religious behavior and spirituality in men

Two hypotheses were tested: (1) In a sample of adult men, past experience of child abuse (sexual, physical, or emotional) will be related to higher levels of reported alienation from religion and God as shown in lower rates of current religious behavior, higher frequency of spiritual "injury," and lower stability of religious behavior and experiences; (2) More "severe" forms of abuse will be associated with higher indicators of alienation.

Data were collected from 1,207 male veterans, 527 (43.7%) of whom reported being abused as a child. Each subject completed the Spiritual Issues Assessment, a large survey which includes data about: (1) KASL Religiosity Index; (2) The Spiritual Injury Scale; and (3) Religious items from the Westberg Personal Health Inventory.

A history of sexual abuse was related to significantly greater spiritual injury and lower stability of spiritual behaviors and experiences, but not to overall rate of current religious behavior. Surprisingly, abuse was related to increased frequency of prayer and of "spiritual experience." Multivariate analyses indicate that the effect size is relatively small and the type of abuse was less important than the presence of any form of abuse.

The findings suggest that the impact of childhood abuse is more complex than initially hypothesized. While abuse seems to be related to continuing spiritual injury and distress, it is also related to higher levels of some spiritual activities and experiences which are usually associated with positive spirituality.