NCJ Number
228459
Journal
Journal of Child Sexual Abuse Volume: 18 Issue: 4 Dated: July-August 2009 Pages: 355-366
Date Published
August 2009
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This study investigated the connections between males and females with reported histories of childhood sexual abuse and subsequent social anxiety in young adulthood.
Abstract
Consistent with previous research, females in this study were more socially anxious than males, regardless of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) status. In addition, almost one-third of males and a little over a third of females reported being sexually abused as a child or adolescent. One of the most surprising findings in the study was that a history of CSA did not place males and females at increased risk for social anxiety. It is well documented that CSA is associated with deleterious outcomes in the areas of anxiety in both males and females. Previous study that explored the relationship between CSA and adult social anxiety have found respondents to report lower levels of social functioning and increased risk for clinical levels of social anxiety in clinical and non-clinical samples. This study examined childhood sexual abuse's relationship to adult social anxiety in both males and females. The study sample consisted of 250 undergraduate students from a large metropolitan university. Tables, note, and references