In a national survey of 2,963 professional women, the Trauma Symptom Checklist was found to be reliable and to display predictive validity in regard to childhood sexual victimization. Women who reported a sexual abuse history scored significantly higher than did women with no such history on each of the six subscales. (Author/DB)

Methods of coping with childhood sexual abuse were retrospectively studied with 54 adult women who had been sexually abused in childhood. "Denial" and "emotional repression" were the coping methods most commonly employed. Analysis suggested that avoidant/emotion suppressing strategies were associated with poorer adult psychological adjustment.…

This study of 1,001 adult homosexual and bisexual men found that 37% reported they had been encouraged or forced to have sexual contact with an older or more powerful partner before age 19. Median age at first contact was 10. Ninety-three percent of participants reporting early sexual contact were classified as sexually abused. (Author/DB)

Mock jurors (N=243) rendered judgment about a case involving childhood sexual abuse allegations made with or without allegations of satanic ritual abuse. Although jurors, especially nonreligious jurors, were less likely to believe the satanic ritual allegations than other case details, they were as likely to vote guilty and believe the victim in…

Structured clinical interviews with 135 women entering an outpatient treatment program for survivors of childhood sexual abuse found that participants indicated experiencing considerably more severe abuse, at a younger age, for longer duration, and at the hands of more perpetrators than reported in the literature on nonclinical samples of…

Structured clinical interviews concerning childhood histories of physical and sexual abuse with 70 mentally ill women at 2 times found test-retest reliability of .63 for physical abuse and .82 for sexual abuse. Validity, assessed as consistency with an independent clinical assessment, showed 75% agreement for physical abuse and 93% agreement for…

Women (N=3,213) were interviewed initially, and again a year later, concerning childhood rape history, lifetime symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and lifetime alcohol use. Analysis found a history of childhood rape doubled the number of alcohol-abuse symptoms that women experienced in adulthood, suggesting that PTSD symptomatology…

This study with 182 homosexually active adult men of Puerto Rican ancestry in New York City found that men who had been sexually abused by an older sexual partner before the age of 13 were significantly more likely to engage in high-risk sexual behavior without protection than other homosexually active men. (Author/DB)

This study examined perceptions of child abuse (psychological, physical, and sexual) and later adult psychological and social adjustment in a nonclinical sample of 173 individuals. Forty-seven subjects reported significant levels of abuse but failed to acknowledge themselves as abused. Abused individuals (both Acknowledgers and Minimizers) had…

The influence of prior information on attitudes towards physical affection between adults and children was studied. Results showed that (1) prior information and expectations can influence attitudes toward adult-child physical affection; and (2) group differences in attitudes toward affectionate behavior exist among parents, nonparents, and early…

Interviews with 1,001 adult homosexual and bisexual men found that sexual abuse in childhood was significantly associated with mental health counseling and hospitalization, psychoactive substance use, depression, suicidal thought or actions, social support, sexual identity development, HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) risk behavior, and risk of…

Data on child physical/sexual abuse, family stress histories, perceived parental warmth, and current psychological functioning were gathered from 259 working women. Multiple regression analyses showed that parental warmth strongly influenced or mediated the relationship of intrafamilial child abuse to depression and self-esteem levels. However,…

This study examined the discriminant validity of the Trauma Symptom Checklist (TSC-40), developed to assess the impact of a history of sexual victimization, with a clinical sample of 103 men and 79 women. A history of child sexual abuse was associated with both high symptom levels and with elevation on the trauma subscale of the TSC-40. (Author/DB)

Ninety-two adult female incest survivors were interviewed and completed measures of current functioning. Hierarchical regression analyses suggested that adult attachment behavior was significantly associated with personality structure, depression, and distress; and abuse severity was associated with posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms and…