NCJ Number
147466
Journal
Journal of Interpersonal Violence Volume: 9 Issue: 1 Dated: (March 1994) Pages: 12-26
Date Published
1994
Length
15 pages
Annotation
A sample of 654 female college students, including those who had been sexually abused as children, sexually assaulted as adults, sexually assaulted as children and as adults, or nonabused, completed the Trauma Symptom Checklist (TSC). This study also investigated the role of mediating variables including parental support, attributional style, and coping.
Abstract
The subscales of the TSC include dissociation, anxiety, depression, sexual abuse trauma index, sex problems, and sleep problems. Women who had been sexually assaulted as women had higher scores on all subscales of the TSC than women who had been sexually abused as children. Women who had been victimized both in childhood and adulthood reported the most symptoms on the TSC. Women who are revictimized are likely to experience serious disruption in their functioning due to the new assault as well as the reactivation of negative consequences of the earlier abuse. In this study, lack of parental support correlated with high scores on all TSC subscales. The significant correlation between a nonexpressive coping style and dissociation, anxiety, and depression indicate that not dealing with the consequences of abuse is detrimental to the victimized woman. Regression analysis showed the interaction between parental support and nonexpressive coping predicts anxiety and depression. 2 tables and 21 references