NCJ Number
155566
Journal
Child Abuse and Neglect Volume: 19 Issue: 6 Dated: (June 1995) Pages: 761- 764
Date Published
1995
Length
4 pages
Annotation
College women with a history of child sexual abuse were compared with nonabused college women on three measures of academic performance.
Abstract
The 209 participants attended a large, public southeastern university. They completed questionnaires containing a variety of standardized measures, as well as an adaptation of the Sexual Experiences Survey. The university's computerized records provided information on academic performance through the third year. Results revealed that 38.5 percent of the incoming college women reported a history of contact childhood sexual abuse, and 55.2 percent of the sample reported at least one experience of some type of precollege sexual abuse. Higher rates of abuse were reported by younger women, minority women, and women from lower-income families. However, the abused and nonabused women did not differ significantly on any of the academic variables, including status, grade point average, and earned credit hours. Nevertheless, it cannot be concluded that sexual abuse does not have a long-term impact on academic performance. A college sample is arguably a resilient sample. Further research should focus on the long-term academic impact of child sexual abuse by studying analogous performance measures in vocational training programs or permanent employment situations. Table and 12 references