EFFECTS OF CHILDHOOD TRAUMA ON PSYCHOLOGICAL FUNCTIONING IN ADULTS SEXUALLY ABUSED AS CHILDREN

Standardized symptom measures were used to determine the effect of chi ldhood trauma experiences on adults sexually victimized as children. O ne hundred eighty-eight sexually abused individuals were tested for me an scores for depression, self-esteem, general levels of trauma sympto ms, sexual dysfunction, posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms, and di ssociation. Childhood traumatic experiences parents fighting, physical abuse by father or by mother, other childhood traumas) of a nonsexual nature correlated with increased symptom levels and accounted for sig nificant changes in percentage of variance ranging from 5.2% (general trauma symptoms) to 12.3% (posttraumatic stress disorder). Even after controlling for nonsexual-abuse trauma, sexual trauma in childhood con tinued to contribute significantly to increased adult symptom levels. Variables tested included number of perpetrators; incest; age of first abuse; whether force, bribes, or threats were used by the perpetrator ; and penetration. The use of force was the single most significant in dividual sexual abuse variable. Sexual abuse as a whole contributed si gnificantly to all the symptom measures with the most change in varian ce noted for dissociation (20.5%). Gender contributed significant diff erences only for sexual dysfunction where men scored significantly wor se.