THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CHARACTERISTICS OF SEXUAL ABUSE AND DISSOCIATIVE EXPERIENCES

Childhood sexual abuse has been associated with adult dissociative sym ptomatology. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between specific characteristics of sexual abuse and dissociative exp eriences in adulthood. Fifty-six female inpatients with a history of p hysical abuse and severe sexual abuse reported on their history of abu se and dissociative experiences. A logistic regression that controlled for physical revictimization showed that sexual abuse by a greater nu mber of different sex abuse offenders was significantly related to an elevated level of dissociation. In exploring how many sex abuse offend ers are associated with dissociative experiences, a logistic regressio n revealed a significant relationship between four or more sex abuse o ffenders and greater dissociative symptomatology. The reported age of onset of the sexual abuse was not a significant predictor of dissociat ion when sexual revictimization was included in the analysis. These fi ndings suggest that severely traumatized patients with a history of mu ltiple sex abuse offenders are highly likely to use dissociation as a primary psychological defense. The implications of the study are discu ssed. Copyright (C) 1994 by W.B. Saunders Company