Female Adolescents With a History of Sexual Abuse: Risk Outcome and Protective Factors

• NCJ Number: 164856
• Journal: Journal of Interpersonal Violence Volume: 11 Issue: 4 Dated: (December 1996) Pages: 503-518
• Author(s): J M Chandy; R W Blum; M D Resnick
• Date Published: 1996
• Length: 16 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study examined the school performance, suicidal involvement, disordered eating behaviors, pregnancy risk, and chemical use of female teenagers with a history of sexual abuse and found that they had higher rates of these adverse outcomes than a comparison group of teenagers without a background of abuse.

Abstract

Data for the study were obtained from the Adolescent Health Survey conducted in Minnesota during the 1986-87 school year with a sample of more than 36,000 7th - 12th-grade public school students. The Adolescent Health Survey used a comprehensive and anonymous instrument developed by a team of educators, health professionals, and social scientists. It included questions on a variety of health-risk behaviors such as substance use; disordered eating; delinquency and antisocial behaviors; mental health; sexual attitudes; orientation and behaviors; health status; health services use; and peer, school, and family relationships. The subsample of teenagers with a history of sexual abuse included those female adolescents who reported that they had even been sexually abused and had discussed this problem with someone. The study found that a history of sexual abuse constituted a risk factor for a variety of adverse behaviors or conditions among the subsample. The study showed a generally consistent pattern across the indicators of poor school performance, suicidal involvement, disordered eating, elevated pregnancy risk, and substance use. These findings are clinically significant, suggesting that professionals should look for sexual abuse as a possible source for these outcomes when dealing with adolescents. The study also suggests that the adverse outcomes among adolescent victims of sexual abuse are not inevitable; there are protective factors that apparently mitigate the adverse effects. These include a higher degree of religiosity, perceived health, caring from adults, living with both biological parents, and the presence of a clinic or nurse at school. Risk factors that increase the likelihood of adverse outcomes included perceived substance use in school, mother's use of alcohol, family stressor events during the past year, and worry about sexual coercion. 3 tables and 54 references