The effects of daily stressors on physical health in women with and without a childhood history of sexual abuse

Objective: The primary purpose of the present study was to examine the rela tionship between daily stressors and physical symptoms in college-age women with a childhood history of sexual abuse and women without a history of ch ildhood sexual abuse. It was hypothesized that women with a history of chil dhood sexual abuse would be particularly susceptible to the effects of dail y stressors on physical symptoms, and would show more covariation between d aily stressors and physical symptoms, compared to women without a history o f childhood sexual abuse. Method: Female college students (n = 491) were screened for histories of ch ildhood (before age 15) and adulthood (after age 15) contact sexual abuse. Of these participants, 18 women with only a history of childhood sexual abu se were assigned to the SA group, and 27 women with no history of childhood or adulthood sexual abuse were assigned to the NA group. These women fille d out self-report measures of daily hassles and physical symptoms for 28 co nsecutive days. Results: During the 5 days preceding a highly stressful day, women in the S A group reported significantly more physical symptoms than during the 5 day s preceding a day of low stress. For the NA group, there were no significan t differences in reported physical symptoms between high- and low-stress da ys. Conclusions: The pattern of results for physical symptoms suggests that wom en with a history of childhood sexual abuse may be particularly susceptible to the effects of heightened daily stress, and may display this susceptibi lity in the report of physical symptoms. Possible explanations for these fi ndings are discussed. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd.