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Abstract
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The purpose of this study was to compare female adolescent victims of sexual abuse and their nonabused adolescent sisters with matched nonvictim control subject sister sets on measures of personality adjustment and attitudes. The study involved 60 girls between the ages of 11 and 21: 15 victims of child sexual abuse, 15 nonabused adolescent sisters, and 15 nonvictim control sisters sets who were matched to the victim sister sets on age, socioeconomic status, birth order of daugthers, number of children in family, and race. This is the first study that has attempted to assess the adjustment of siblings in sexually abusive families. Results of a multivariate analysis of variance revealed no differences among the four groups. Results of 12 paired t-tests revealed only one significant difference between the victim sister and control sister groups. These unexpected findings are discussed, and suggestions for future studies are made.
VioLit summary:
OBJECTIVE:
The aim of this study by DiPietro on the effects of intrafamilial child sexual abuse was threefold. First, the author wanted to assess the attitudes and adjustments of the victim and her siblings, second the author wanted to ascertain if any pathology of the family system effected outcome, and third, the author sought to provide information pertinent to treatment providers.
METHODOLOGY:
A quasi-experimental cross sectional design was employed, using a nonprobability sample of 60 young females subjects aged 11 to 21. This study looked at four areas of personality function and attributes: neuroticism, adjustment, locus of control, and self concept. Two hypothesis were investigated: 1) The scores of victims and their non-abused sisters, should be poorer than the matching control sister sets, and 2) The difference between the victim group and the control group will be greater than the difference between the sister group and the nonvictim sister groups.
Sixty subjects participated, fifteen victims of child sexual abuse, fifteen non-abused sisters of those victims, and thirty controls of matching sister sets. The Duncan Socio-economic Index was used to distribute subjects and their sisters. Birth order was controlled for, while age, SES, race and the number of children in the family were used as matching variables. The questionnaires that were administered contained The Eysenck Personality Inventory with 57 items, Bell Adjustment Inventory (only submissiveness, emotionality, and hostile scales were used), Internal-External Scale with 29 items, the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale with 100 items, and a victim and victim-sister history questionnaire giving information on history of the sexual abuse, and the girls demographic information. The questionnaires were completed in the home of half the victims and their sisters, as well as all thirty controls sets who lived in Salt Lake City. All other victim sets that lived in other states completed their questionnaires by mail. All subjects were offered payment for their participation. Analysis included comparison of descriptive and demographic data, a multivariate analysis, and a post hoc with t-test analysis using victims and nonvictim controls as one group and sisters as another.
FINDINGS/DISCUSSION:
The MANOVA indicated a nonsignificant difference among the four groups. Out of 12 t tests, one from the Internal-External Scale was significant. The Internal-External scale showed a significant difference between victims' sister groups and control sister groups. The author noted that each groups' mean was close to the mean scores from a national sample. Also out of 12 tests one significant result could be expected by chance, making confidence in the finding questionable. All four subject groups scored similar to each other and close to the normal range for all tests given. Although the victim groups scored slightly higher on all tests, indicating poorer adjustment, the results were not significantly different from the other three groups' reports.
In all three scales of Bell Adjustment Inventory all subject groups displayed an overall mean poorer than the mean that Bell found in his initial studies. The Tennessee scale scores were again similar but extremely low on self concept, where the victim group displayed the highest mean score. This finding was opposite to the initial hypothesis. It was noted that current research is not sure if molestation by itself, accounts for future problems in sexual abuse victims, and that maladaptive family structure may also be a factor.
Although this study failed to show significant results, the author stated that problems addressed by this study may help future research. One problem noted was that the sample size was small. The author found it difficult to obtain a sample where only one child in the family had been sexually abused. Another problems may have occurred if the controls and sister groups reported not having been victims, when in fact they were. The author suggested that therapy may have influenced the victims self concept scores. Those having received therapy consequently felt better about themselves. Also noted was the problem of using norms from a 1962 population to compare to a more modern population. It was pointed out that the only control group, non-victim sister sets, came from one city compared to the victim sets which came from more than one state.
Finally, overall problems stemming from sexual abuse include adjustment problems which may not appear, nor be reported until these victims become older and intimately involved. It was also noted that normal adolescent adjustment and self concept problems may have had a compounding effect. The author thought it important for treatment purposes to define the etiology of the problems stemming from sexual abuse in a family. She thought it was important to consider whether or not sexual abuse victims generally experience more severe problems than their non-abused siblings. Although this report did not demonstrate its hypotheses, it was valuable in identifying the problems to be addressed in future research.
AUTHOR'S RECOMMENDATIONS:
The author noted that she excluded the Home and Health Scales from the Bell Adjustment Inventory, and that future research should include these scales. The author suggested future research be conducted on 1) individual pathology of victims versus family dysfunction, 2) immediate and long term affects of child sexual abuse, 3) monitoring of high-risk families over a period of time, and 4) empirical studies on the adjustment of individual family members in a home of sexual abuse. (CSPV Abstract - Copyright © 1992-2007 by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Institute of Behavioral Science, Regents of the University of Colorado)
N1 - Call Number: NC, AB-243
KW - Psychological Victimization Effects
KW - Incest Effects
KW - Incest Victim
KW - Child Abuse Victim
KW - Child Abuse Effects
KW - Child Sexual Abuse Effects
KW - Child Sexual Abuse Victim
KW - Domestic Violence Victim
KW - Domestic Violence Effects
KW - Sexual Assault Effects
KW - Sexual Assault Victim
KW - Female Victim
KW - Juvenile Female
KW - Juvenile Victim
KW - Child Female
KW - Child Victim
KW - Child Adjustment
KW - Victim Adjustment
KW - Juvenile Adjustment
KW - Female Adjustment
KW - Emotional Adjustment
Language: en |