NCJ Number
178110
Journal
Journal of Family Violence Volume: 14 Issue: 2 Dated: June 1999 Pages: 157-171
Date Published
1999
Length
15 pages
Annotation
This study investigated the relationship between 10 characteristics of childhood sexual abuse and dissociation in adulthood.
Abstract
A structured clinical interview, the Dissociative Experiences Scale, and the Dissociation Subscale of the Symptom Checklist 90 - Revised were administered to 118 women survivors seeking psychotherapy. Separate stepwise multiple regression analyses were conducted for each dissociation scale to determine which abuse characteristics were predictive of dissociation. The 10 abuse characteristics used as variables were age at onset of abuse, duration of abuse, whether a passive participant was present during the abuse, whether physical abuse accompanied the sexual abuse, sexual abuse by parents, whether there were concurrent multiple perpetrators, number of perpetrators, coerced compliance, subjugation and humiliation, and invasive objectification. Separate stepwise multiple regression analyses were conducted for each dissociation scale to determine which abuse characteristics were predictive of dissociation. In both analyses, the same four variables were significantly related to dissociation: age at onset, coercive sexual acts, objectifying sexual acts, and concurrent multiple perpetrators. The more commonly studied abuse characteristics (e.g., duration of abuse, violence accompanying the abuse, relationship to perpetrator, number of perpetrators) did not account for a significant proportion of the variance in this sample; therefore, it is important for researchers to conduct investigations that represent child-sexual-abuse characteristics more extensively and that sample a variety of populations. 7 tables and 31 references