Elsevier

Child Abuse & Neglect

Volume 20, Issue 1, January 1996, Pages 7-21
Child Abuse & Neglect

The long-term impact of the physical, emotional, and sexual abuse of children: A community study

https://doi.org/10.1016/0145-2134(95)00112-3Get rights and content

Abstract

The associations between giving a history of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse in children and a range of mental health, interpersonal, and sexual problems in adult life were examined in a community sample of women. Abuse was defined to establish groups giving histories of unequivocal victimization. A history of any form of abuse was associated with increased rates of psychopathology, sexual difficulties, decreased self-esteem, and interpersonal problems. The similarities between the three forms of abuse in terms of their association with negative adult outcomes was more apparent than any differences, though there was a trend for sexual abuse to be particularly associated to sexual problems, emotional abuse to low self-esteem, and physical abuse to marital breakdown. Abuse of all types was more frequent in those from disturbed and disrupted family backgrounds. The background factors associated with reports of abuse were themselves often associated to the same range of negative adult outcomes as for abuse. Logistic regressions indicated that some, though not all, of the apparent associations between abuse and adult problems was accounted for by this matrix of childhood disadvantage from which abuse so often emerged.

Résumé

French abstract not available at time of publication.

Resumen

En esta investigación se examinaron, en una muestra comunitaria de mujeres, las asociaciones entre la existencia de una historia de maltrato físico, maltrato emocional o abuso sexual en la infancia y una serie de problemas sexuales, interpersonales y de salud mental en la vida adulta. El maltrato fue definido de forma que se establecieran grupos con historias de victimización inequívocas. Una historia de cualquier forma de maltrato estaba asociada con aumento en las tasas de psicopatología, dificultades sexuales y problemas interpersonales y un descenso en la autoestima. Las semejanzas entre las tres formas de maltrato en cuanto a su asociación con consecuencias negativas en la época adulta eran más aparentes que cualquier diferencia. Sin embargo, se observaba una tendencia a que el abuso sexual estuviera particularmente asociado con problemas sexuales, el maltrato emocional con una baja autoestima y el maltrato físico con fracaso matrimonial. El maltrato de cualquier tipo se daba de manera más frecuente en aquellos sujetos con historias familiares alteradas y desorganizadas. Los factores de la historia familiar asociados con los informes de maltrato estaban, ellos mismos, a menudo asociados con el mismo rango de consecuencias negativas adultas que se habían asociado con el maltrato. Los análisis de regresión logística indicaron que algunas, aunque no todas, de las aparentes asociaciones entre maltrato y problemas adultos eran explicadas por dicha matriz de desventaja infantil, a partir de la cual emerge el maltrato tan frecuentemente.

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