CHILDHOOD SEXUAL ABUSE LINKED WITH ADULT SUBSTANCE USE, VICTIMIZATION, AND AIDS-RISK

College women who report childhood sexual abuse were compared with wom en who do not report abuse on a number of variables concerned with pro blems in living. Multivariate Analysis of Variance revealed that, comp ared with nonabused women, sexually abused women reported significantl y more negative attitudes about sexuality, less sexual assertiveness a bout birth control or refusing unwanted sex, less efficacy concerning HIV prevention, more anticipation of a negative response from a partne r concerning safer sex, more hard-substance use, and more sexual victi mization in adulthood. These results support and extend previous work in this area and argue for greater attention to relational issues for interventions with sexually abused women. Limitations to the study and future directions for research are discussed.