Citation

Zeglin RJ, DeRaedt MR, Lanthier RP. J. Child Sex. Abus. 2015; 24(6): 607-626.

Affiliation

a Department of Counseling and Human Development , The George Washington University , Washington , DC , USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/10538712.2015.1057664

PMID

26340070

Abstract

Nearly 1 in 5 girls and 1 in 20 boys under the age of 18 will be the victim of child sexual abuse. As adults, these individuals are more likely to report myriad mental illnesses including depression. Testing the hypothesis that having children would moderate the depressive effects of child sexual abuse, the authors used public-use data of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health Wave IV (n = 5,114; mean age = 29.00 years; SD = 1.78).

RESULTS indicate that having children significantly moderates the relationship between child sexual abuse and depression for females. Though the risk of depression is increased for all females with a child sexual abuse history, this increase is less dramatic for mothers. Two potential explanations of this effect are presented: biological and psychosocial. The possible implications for mental health professionals working with mothers with a child sexual abuse history include highlighting the role of their children as possible support.

Language: en