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Thesis/Dissertation Information
- Degree Disciplines:
- Psychology
Notes
- Abstract:
- Childhood Sexual Abuse (CSA) includes a wide range of sexual acts between a child and an adult. Some of these acts include: coercion, rape, harassment, touching or looking inappropriately at a child’s genetalia, as well as other unstated sexual acts against a child. When examining the differences between gender in CSA victims, females are more than twice as likely as males to become victims and revictimized in adulthood. It has been shown that CSA can have adverse effects in adulthood such as: physical problems (e.g., obesity, gastrointestinal, and cardiopulmonary symptoms) and psychological problems (e.g., depression, anxiety, PTSD). Further, it has been supported that the more severe the abuse was, the greater the symptomology that the individual will experience after the event. Therefore, the current study examined specific characteristics of CSA and their impact on depression and anxiety in adult women who were victims of CSA. Archival data from 217 adult women was taken from a larger online study (Hive, 2009). The participants completed a sexual abuse questionnaire, depression scale, and an anxiety scale. Data that were related to initial abuse, number of abusers, and degree of coercion were subjected to a multiple regression analyses and analyzed for the relationship between CSA and depression and anxiety. Further, six additional items were answered dichotomously “yes” or “no” regarding characteristics of the sexual abuse and were analyzed with t-tests. It was hypothesized that the regression analyses would reveal that more severe characteristics of the abuse would predict higher levels of depression and anxiety. It was also hypothesized that “yes” responses to severity of the characteristics of CSA would reveal more depression and anxiety than “no” responses to severity of CSA. Most of the hypotheses were unsupported, but there was support that suggests there was a relationship between: a) the number of abusers and depression, and anxiety, b) a father or father figure as the abuser and anxiety, and c) women’s disclosure about CSA and increased level’s of anxiety. The lack of support for the other hypotheses was speculated as due to the sample used, and the way the questions were presented. Furthermore, future research should examine how abuse-specific characteristics influence a women’s ability to form positive relationships in adulthood.
- Thesis:
- Thesis (M.S.)--Barry University, 2018.
- Bibliography:
- Includes bibliographical references (leaves 34-39).
Record Information
- Source Institution:
- Barry University
- Holding Location:
- Barry University Archives and Special Collections
- Rights Management:
- Copyright Alexis Israel. Permission granted to Barry University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.
- Resource Identifier:
- RC569.5.A28 I77 2018_IsraelAlexis ( BU-Local )
- Classification:
- RC569.5.A28 I77 2018 ( lcc )
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