The empirical literature regarding the descriptive links between childhood sexual abuse and adult development is reviewed from an Eriksonian perspective. The problems with studying the developmental effects of childhood sexual abuse are discussed. These include the following problems: the lack of differentiation between sexual abuse cases, difficulties with the samples, problems with data collection, the manner in which the effects were measured, and limitations of the research designs. The hypothesized descriptive links between childhood sexual abuse and later development begin with the tendency to struggle with role confusion difficulties. Sexually abused people are also likely to have more conflicts around intimacy issues in comparison to non-abused people. Furthermore, the sexually abused person appears to struggle with generativity difficulties more than the non-abused person. Lastly, sexually abused individuals may tend to lean toward despair in comparison to the non-abused individuals. Further research that takes into account the various ages in which the sexual abuse occurred and the possible links that may occur with different developmental stages is suggested. (Contains 37 references.) (Author)