Emotional Support and Adult Depression in Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse

• NCJ Number: 248085
• Journal: Child Abuse and Neglect Volume: 38 Issue: 8 Dated: August 2014 Pages: 1331-1340
• Author(s): Katherine L. Musliner; Jonathan B. Singer
• Date Published: August 2014
• Length: 10 pages
• Grant Number(s): P01-HD31921
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical); Report (Study/Research); Report (Grant Sponsored)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study of a nationally representative sample of 1,238 individuals who had been sexually abused as children assessed the effects of emotional support from friends and parents on depression as adults, and it examined whether any associations found were moderated by the identity of the perpetrator (parent/caregiver or other).

Abstract

Assessments in both adolescence and adulthood found that only parental and friend support provided in adulthood reduced the likelihood of experiencing depression in adults who had been sexually abused in childhood by someone other than a parent or caregiver. Among survivors of parent/caregiver childhood sexual abuse, emotional support was not associated with the likelihood of adult depression, regardless of when or by whom it was provided. Neither friend support nor parental support in adolescence was significantly associated with adult depression in survivors of childhood sexual abuse or in the comparison group, which had not experienced sexual abuse as a child. A possible explanation of this finding comes from betrayal trauma theory (Freyd, 1996). This theory suggests that individuals who were sexually abused by a parent or caregiver during childhood may be unable to judge accurately the extent to which others are trustworthy (Zurbriggen and Freyd, 2004). An alternate explanation comes from attachment theory (Bowlby, 1980) Attachment theory suggests that when a parent violates the trust of a child, either by abuse or neglect, the child learns that his/her environment cannot meet fundamental nurturing needs. In adulthood, these individuals will expect that emotional support from close friends and family will be inconsistent or non-existent. This study used data from Add Health, an ongoing longitudinal school-based study of a nationally representative probability cohort of American teens. The current study is a secondary data analysis of variables from Waves I and IV. 4 tables and 46 references