The perpetrator's strategy as a crucial variable: a representative study of sexual abuse of girls and its sequelae in Switzerland.
OBJECTIVE
Little is known about the long-term consequences of "soft" perpetrator strategies. The purpose of the present study is to assess the consequences of love-bargaining strategies compared to those involving force.


METHODS
A representative sample of 980 women, aged 20 to 40 years, in the German-speaking part of Switzerland was asked questions regarding psychosomatic well-being, sexual actions, and perpetrator strategies, as well as motivations for tolerating long periods of abuse. The answers regarding strategies were factor analyzed. The effect on psychosomatic well-being was determined by means of stepwise regression analysis and correlation analysis.


RESULTS
The prevalence of child sexual abuse (CSA) was 39.8% overall and 14.7% for severe abuse. Using the three variables love-bargaining strategy, self-blaming, and need for affection, an adjusted R2 of .44 was reached in the 3rd step as a dependent variable with a General Symptomatic Index (GSI) calculated from an abbreviated version of the SCL-90-R. The first of the three variables mentioned was by far the most influential. Force was not included in the equation but was closely correlated on a bivariate level with the SCL-90 partial scale "anxiety."


CONCLUSIONS
The consequences of CSA produced by the use of soft strategies have been underestimated in the past.
Niederberger
Josef Martin
JM
Pedagogical Institute of the University of Zürich, Switzerland.
D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety; D002648:Child; D002650:Child Abuse, Sexual / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003068:Coercion; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D005239:Fear; D005260:Female; D006167:Guilt; D006801:Humans; D008149:Love; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009042:Motivation; D010555:Personality Inventory; D010565:Persuasive Communication; D015995:Prevalence; D012649:Self Concept; D013557:Switzerland / Q000453:epidemiology; D013995:Time