Predicting long-term outcomes for women sexually abused in childhood: contribution of abuse severity versus family environment

Abstract

Objective: Child sexual abuse (CSA) has been associated with adverse adult psychosocial outcomes, although some reports describe minimal long-term effects. The search for explanations for the heterogeneous outcomes in women with CSA has led to an examination of a range of CSA-related factors, from the severity of individual CSA incidents to the childhood family environment. This study compares three factors for predicting adult outcomes: a multidimensional CSA Severity Scale, the presence or absence of CSA, and family environment.

Methods: The effect of CSA on adult outcomes was examined among 290 community-dwelling women raised in intact families. Standardized measures and a focused interview were used to collect data, with siblings as collateral informants.

Results: Comparison of a multidimensional CSA Severity Scale to a dichotomous measure of the presence or absence of CSA showed that the Severity Scale did not have greater predictive value for adult outcomes than the dichotomous measure, nor was it as parsimonious. Childhood family environment scales added significantly to the predictive ability of the dichotomous measure.

Conclusion: The specific characteristics of a CSA experience may be less important than the occurrence of CSA and the family environment of women for predicting long-term outcomes.