NCJ Number
151628
Journal
Journal of Child Sexual Abuse Volume: 3 Issue: 2 Dated: (1994) Pages: 45-65
Date Published
1994
Length
21 pages
Annotation
Sixty-six college women's retrospective reports of childhood sexual abuse were examined to determine the coping strategies used by the victims of intrafamilial and extrafamilial child sexual abuse at the time of their victimization.
Abstract
Just over 80 percent of the participants were white, while 15.2 percent were black and 4.5 percent were Hispanic. The majority (51.5 percent) reported being victimized by a perpetrator from outside their family. The analysis indicated that both intrafamilial and extrafamilial victims reported attempts to regulate their distress with emotion- focused coping strategies and to affect the actual abuse situation using problem-focused coping strategies. However, the victims of intrafamilial abuse reported using more of both types of coping than did the victims of extrafamilial abuse. Among the specific types of emotion-focused coping, intrafamilial victims reported using more wishful thinking, detachment, self-blame, and self-isolation than did extrafamilial victims. Findings indicate that victims use a variety of coping strategies and that clinicians should help extrafamilial victims to identify all possible coping strategies and intrafamilial victims to improve their existing coping strategies. Table and 21 references (Author abstract modified)