OVERT AND COVERT SEXUAL ABUSE - RELATIONSHIP TO BODY-IMAGE AND EATINGDISTURBANCE

Objective: To separate forms of overt and covert sexual abuse and asse ss their independent contribution to the development of body image and eating disturbance. Method: A new measure was developed-the Covert-Ov ert Sexual Abuse Questionnaire (COSAQ)-and correlated with levels of b ody image, eating disturbance, social desirability, self-esteem and de pression. Results: Factor analyses on three independent samples yielde d two distinct subscales which were labelled Overt and Covert. Each sc ale had excellent internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Re gression analyses demonstrated the ability of the Covert factor to exp lain variance associated with body image disturbance and eating dysfun ction beyond that accounted for by levels of social desirability, self -esteem, depression, and overt sexual abuse. Discussion: These finding s support the importance of a more ''subtle'' form of early trauma-cov ert sexual abuse-in the development of body image and eating-related p roblems. (C) 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 1997.