Skip to main content
Log in

Type and extent of child abuse as predictors of adult functioning

  • Published:
Journal of Family Violence Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Child abuse is associated with a variety of difficulties later in life. However, it is unclear to what extent these outcomes are related to the type and combinations of abuse (i.e., sexual versus physical) rather than the variable characteristics within each type. Information regarding child abuse histories as well as current functioning was gathered from a community sample of 259 working women. Incest and severe physical abuse were each associated with similar symptoms, with people who were more severely abused showing worse outcomes. Those women who were both physically and sexually abused had less favorable outcomes than those abused in only one manner. The effects of abuse could not be understood without taking combinations of different types and severities into account. The implications of the similarities of the outcomes of severe sexual and physical abuse were discussed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bagley, C., and Ramsay, R. (1985–1986). Sexual abuse in childhood: Psychosocial outcomes and implications for social work practice.J. Social Work Hum. Sexual. 4: 33–47.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beck, A. (1972). Measuring depression: the depression inventory. In Williams, T., Katz, M., and Shields, J. (eds.),Recent Advances in the Biology of Depressive Illnesses. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., pp. 299–302.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beck, A. (1978).Beck Inventory, Center for Cognitive Therapy, Philadelphia, PA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beck, A., and Beamesderfer, A. (1974). Assessment of depression: The depression inventory.Psychological Measure. Psychopharmacol. Mod. Probl. Pharmacopsychiatry 7: 151–169.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blumbery, W., Oliver, J., and McClure, J. (1978). Validation of the Beck Depression Inventory in a university population using psychiatric estimate as the criterion.J. Consult, Clin. Psychol. 46: 150–155.

    Google Scholar 

  • Briere, J. (1992). The long term clinical correlates of childhood sexual victimization.Annal. N.Y. Acad. Sci.

  • Briere, J. (1988). The long term clinical correlates of childhood sexual victimization. In Prentky, R. A., and Quinsey, V. (eds.),Human Sexual Aggression: Current Perspective (V, 528). New York Academy of Sciences, New York, pp. 327–334.

    Google Scholar 

  • Briere, J. (1990).Therapy for Adults Molested as Children: Beyond Survival, Springer, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Briere, J., and Runtz, M. (1986). Suicidal thoughts and behavior in former sexual abuse victims.Canad. J. Behav. Sci. 18: 413–423.

    Google Scholar 

  • Briere, J., and Runtz, M. (1987). A brief measure of victimization effects: The Trauma Symptom Checklist (TSC-33). Paper presented at the Third National Family Violence Research Conference, Durham, New Hampshire.

  • Briere, J., and Runtz, M. (1988a). Multivariate correlates of childhood psychological and physical maltreatment among university women.Child Abuse Negl. 12: 331–341.

    Google Scholar 

  • Briere, J., and Runtz, M. (1988b). Post sexual abuse trauma. In G.E. Wyatt, and G. J. Powell, (Eds.).Lasting Effects of Child Sexual Abuse, Sage, Newbury Park.

    Google Scholar 

  • Briere, J., and Runtz, A. (1988c). Symptomatology associated with childhood sexual victimization in a non-clinical adult sample.Child Abuse Negl. 12: 51–59.

    Google Scholar 

  • Briere, J., and Runtz, M. (1990). Differential adult symptomatology associated with three types of child abuse histories.Child Abuse Negl. 14: 357–364.

    Google Scholar 

  • Browne, A., and Finkelhor, D. (1986). The impact of sexual abuse: A review of the research.Psychological Bull. 99: 66–77.

    Google Scholar 

  • Coopersmith, S. (1981).Manual of the Adult Self-Esteem Scale, Consulting Psychologists Press, Palo Alto, CA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Daro, D. (1988).Confronting Child Abuse, Free Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Donaldson, M. A., and Gardner, R. (1985). Diagnosis and treatment of traumatic stress among women after childhood incest. In Figley, C. R., (ed.),Trauma and Its Wake, Vol. I. Bruner/Mazel, New York, pp. 356–377.

    Google Scholar 

  • Emery, R. E. (1989). Family violence.Am. Psychologist, 44: 321–328.

    Google Scholar 

  • Finkelhor, D. (1979).Sexually Victimized Children, Free Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Finkelhor, D. (1988). The trauma of child sexual abuse: Two models. In Wyatt, G. E., and Powell, G. J. (eds.),Lasting Effects of Child Sexual Abuse, Sage, Newbury Park, Ca.

    Google Scholar 

  • Finkelhor, D., and Browne, A. (1985). The traumatic impact of child sexual abuse: A conceptualization.Am. J. Orthopsychiatry 55: 530–541.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fromuth, M. E. (1986). The relationship of childhood sexual abuse with later psychological and sexual adjustment in a sample of college women.Child Abuse Negl. 10: 5–15.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gelles, R. J., and Cornell, C. P. (1985).Intimate Violence in Families, Beverly Hills, Sage, CA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gelles, R. J., and Cornell, C. P. (1990).Intimate Violence in Families (second edition), Sage, Newbury Park.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gold, E. R. (1985).Long-Term Effects of Sexual Victimization in Childhood: An Attributional Approach, unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hammen, C., Marks, Mayol, T. A., and DeMay, R. (1985). Depressive self-schemas, life stress, and vulnerability to depression.J. Abnorm. Psychol. 94: 308–319.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hammen, C., and Mayol, A. (1982). Depression and cognitive characteristics of stressful life-event types.J. Abnorm. Psychol. 91: 165–174.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harter, S., Alexander, P. C., and Neimenyer, R. A. (1988). Long term effects in incestuous child abuse in college women: Social adjustment, social cognition, and family characteristics.J. Consult. Clin. Psychol. 56: 5–8.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haugaard, and Emery, R. E. (1989). Methodological issues in child abuse research.Child Abuse Negl. 13: 13–100.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hays, W. (1963).Statistics for Statistics, Harper and Row, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Karyl, J. (1992). Psychometric evaluation and validation of trauma symptom checklist (TSC-33) subscales. Manuscript in preparation.

  • Lindberg, F. H., and Distad, L. J. (1985). Post-traumatic stress disorders in women who experienced childhood incest.Childhood Abuse Negl. 9: 329–334.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCord, J. (1983). A forty-year perspective on effects of child abuse and neglect.Child Abuse Negl. 7: 265–270.

    Google Scholar 

  • McLeer, S. V., Deblinger, E., Atkins, M.S., Fou, E.B., and Ralphe, D. L. (1988). Post-traumatic stress disorder in sexually abused children.J. Child Adol. Psychiatry 27: 650–654.

    Google Scholar 

  • Newberger, C. M., and De Vos, E. (1988). Abuse and victimization: A life span developmental model.Am. J. Orthopsychiatry 58: 505–511.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peters, S. D. (1988). Child sexual abuse and later psychological problems. In G. E. Wyatt, and G. J., Powell (Eds.).Lasting Effects of Child Sexual Abuse, Sage, Newbury Park, pp. 101–118.

    Google Scholar 

  • Robins, C. J., and Block, P., (1988). Personal vulnerability, life events and depressive symptoms: A test of a specific interactional model.J. Person. Social Psychol. 54: 847–852.

    Google Scholar 

  • Russel, D.E.H. (1986).The Secret Trauma. Incest in the Lives of Girls and Women, Basic Books, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sedney, M. A., and Brooks, B. (1984). Factors associated with a history of childhood sexual experience in a nonclinical female population.J. Am. Acad. Child Psychiatry 23: 215–216.

    Google Scholar 

  • Silvern, L. E., and Kaersvang, L. (1989). The traumatized children of violent marriages.Child Welfare 68: 421–436.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stein, J., Galding, J. M., Seigel, J. M., Buram, M. A., and Sorenson, S. B. (1988). Long-term psychological sequelae of child sexual abuse. In G. E. Wyatt, and G. J. Powell (Eds.).Lasting Effects of Child Sexual Abuse, Sage, Newbury Park.

    Google Scholar 

  • Straus, M., Gelles, R., and Steinmets, S. K. (1980).Behind Closed Doors: Violence in the American Family, Anchor Press, Garden City.

    Google Scholar 

  • Terr, L. C. (1990).Too Scared to Cry: Psychic Trauma in Childhood, Harper & Row, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tsai, M., Feldman-Summers, S., and Edgar, M. (1979). Childhood molestation: Variables related to differential impacts on psychosexual functioning in adult women.J. Abnorm. Psychol. 88: 407–417.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van der Kalk, B. A. (1988). The trauma spectrum: the interaction of biological and social events in the genesis of the trauma response.J. Traum. Stress 1: 273–289.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van der Kalk, B. A. (1989). The compulsion to repeat the trauma: Re-enactment, revictimization, and masochism.Psychiatric Clin. North Am. 12: 389–411.

    Google Scholar 

  • Widom, C. S. (1989). The cycle of violence.Science 224: 160–166.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, J. P., Smith, W. K., and Johnson, S. K. (1985). A comparative analysis of PTSD among various survivor groups. In Figley, C. R. (Ed.),Trauma and Its Wake (Vol. I). Bruner/Mazel, New York, pp. 142–172.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zynda, P. (1986).Longterm Effects of Childhood Sexual Abuse, Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, University of Colorado, Boulder.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Wind, T.W., Silvern, L. Type and extent of child abuse as predictors of adult functioning. Journal of Family Violence 7, 261–281 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00994618

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00994618

Key words

Navigation