Long-Term Effects of Incestuous Child Abuse in College Women: Social Adjustment, Social Cognition, and Family Characteristics

• NCJ Number: 110765
• Journal: Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology Volume: 56 Issue: 1 Dated: (February 1988) Pages: 5-8
• Author(s): S Harter; P C Alexander; R A Neimeyer
• Date Published: 1988
• Length: 4 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study investigated family and social cognitive characteristics as possible mediators of social adjustment.

Abstract

Subjects were 85 college women, including 29 with a history of sexual abuse by a family member and 56 control subjects with no history of abuse. Results indicated decreased cohesion and adaptability in the family of origin, increased perception of social isolation, and poorer social adjustment among abused subjects. Additional analyses suggested that family characteristics and increased perceptions of social isolation were more predictive of social maladjustment than abuse per se. However, abuse by a paternal figure was related to poorer social adjustment even after significant family and social-cognitive variables were controlled. (Publisher abstract)