Citation

Feiring C, Cleland CM, Simon VA. J. Clin. Child Adolesc. Psychol. 2010; 39(1): 35-50.

Affiliation

Center for Youth Relationship Development, The College of New Jersey, Ewing, NJ 08628, USA. feiring@tcnj.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/15374410903401112

PMID

20390797

PMCID

PMC2856117

Abstract

Potential pathways from childhood sexual abuse (CSA) to negative self-schemas to subsequent dissociative symptoms and low global self-esteem were examined in a prospective longitudinal study of 160 ethnically diverse youth with confirmed CSA histories. Participants were interviewed at the time of abuse discovery, when they were 8 to 15 years of age, and again 1 and 6 years later. Abuse-specific indicators of stigmatization, in particular the combination of shame and self-blame more than general self-blame attributions for everyday events, explained which youth with CSA histories experienced more dissociative symptoms and clinically significant levels of dissociation. Abuse-specific stigmatization was found to operate as a prospective mechanism for subsequent dissociative symptoms but not self-esteem.

Language: en