Long-term psychological correlates of childhood sexual abuse in two samples of college men.
Using a retrospective questionnaire approach, the current study explored the relationship between a history of childhood sexual abuse and later psychological and sexual adjustment. Subjects were 582 college men from two different geographic locations: 253 from a midwestern university and 329 from a southeastern university. The definition of child sexual abuse employed in this study was a broad one which included both contact and noncontact experiences. In order to be defined as abusive, however, an age discrepancy between victim and perpetrator was required. Although not so for the southeastern sample, for the midwestern sample a number of small but significant correlations emerged between a history of sexual abuse and psychological adjustment as measured by the SCL-90. In both samples, very few significant correlations emerged between a history of sexual abuse and later sexual adjustment and behavior.
Fromuth
M E
ME
Department of Psychology, Auburn University.
Burkhart
B R
BR
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002650:Child Abuse, Sexual / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008297:Male; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010555:Personality Inventory; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012649:Self Concept; D012737:Sex Factors; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D012917:Social Adjustment