title: Effects of multiple forms of childhood abuse and adult sexual assault on current eating disorder symptoms.
abstract: The objective of this study is to examine the effect of recent adult sexual assault on current eating disorder symptoms when controlling for the effects of multiple forms of childhood abuse. A total of 489 undergraduate women completed the Eating Disorder Examination-Questionnaire, and surveys regarding childhood abuse and sexual assault that had occurred in the previous three months. Approximately 30% of the sample indicated recent unwanted sexual experiences. Childhood emotional abuse contributed unique variance to the prediction of current ED symptoms, but sexual and physical abuse did not. Recent sexual assault contributed additional unique variance to current ED symptoms when controlling for childhood abuse, thus both emotional abuse in childhood and sexual assault in adulthood contributed unique variance to ED symptoms.
authors.affiliation: The University of Georgia, United States. fischer@uga.edu
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fischer
authors.forename: Monika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stojek
authors.forename: Erin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hartzell
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000145:classification / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002650:Child Abuse, Sexual / Q000523:psychology; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005845:Georgia / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D012307:Risk Factors; D012742:Sex Offenses / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult