Childhood Sexual Abuse and Multiple Dimensions of Self-Concept

• NCJ Number: 234330
• Journal: Journal of Interpersonal Violence Volume: 21 Issue: 8 Dated: August 2006 Pages: 982-999
• Author(s): Meera Murthi; Heather L. Servaty-Seib; Ann N. Elliott
• Date Published: August 2006
• Length: 18 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study examined female college students' relationship between child sexual abuse and self-concept.

Abstract

The purpose of this investigation was to examine the relationship between child sexual abuse (CSA) and self-concept in a nonclinical sample of female college students. Participants with a history of CSA had lower scores than participants without a history of CSA on four domains of self-concept: familial, affect, competence, and physical. History of CSA was not associated with lower self-concept in the social and academic domains. The primary conclusions to be drawn from this study are that CSA may be differentially associated with various domains of self-concept, and thus multidimensional assessment of self-concept can yield useful information that cannot be gathered from global measures which yield a single composite score. (Published Abstract)