Child sexual abuse penetrates society today in many ways. Child sexual abuse has a variety of effects on children that can be seen later in life. Researchers and psychologists today are looking closer at the mental, physical, emotional, and social effects of being sexually abused. A universal definition of child sexual abuse is not apparent. Some limit the definition to just an unwanted sexual intercourse or penetration. Another definition is more broad and describes it as any sexual encounter whether intercourse, verbal connotations, witnessing a sexual act, pornography, or being fondled. Either way, child sexual abuse has serious effects well into adulthood.
Sometimes symptoms of a sexually abused child are not obvious, but research has shown that there are numerous psychological effects on children. Paolucci, Genuis, and Violato conclude through a series of analyses of variance (ANOVAs) factors such as socioeconomic level, gender, type of abuse, number of incidents, and age when abused do not correlate to the severity of the effects of being sexually abused. Most symptoms are apparent in all sexually abused children.
Often physical symptoms have no explanation of their occurrence. These symptoms include bruises around any body opening, torn or bloody clothing, difficulty with standing or sitting, complications urinating, genital injuries, or complaints of itching in the genital areas.
Physical symptoms go hand in hand with the behavioral indications of sexual abuse. Often a child suffers from poor peer relationships, excessive masturbation and knowledge of sexual behaviors, refuses to be touched in any way, self destructive manners, or suffers from role reversal, when a child is takes on the roles of an adult. The levels of sexuality increases and can be seen with the knowledge, precocious behaviors, and attitudes that victims have towards others.
Boney-McCoy and Finkelhor did a phone interview with children ages 10 to 16 and asked about their sexual abuse experiences to see if it causes harm. The results show that respondents who reported unwanted sexual experiences with peers had a harder time adjusting to: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder-related symptomatology, sadness, lifetime depression, and trouble with teachers. For males, the effect sizes for the four measurements respectively were: r = .12, .09, .16, and .11, with a study-level effect size of r =. 12. For women, the effect sizes were, r = .26, .13, .20, and .20, with a study-level effect size of r = .20. These statistically significant numbers show the severity of the harm done by sexual abuse.
Long-term sexual abuse effects vary with each person but ultimately every child has a distorted view of themselves and the world. Usually short-term effects provide the framework for the long-term effects.
Posttraumatic stress disorder is a mental disorder when an individual is engaged, confronted, or witnesses an event that leaves scars from the experience. Often sexually abused individuals exhibit post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms where an individual involuntarily remembers the incident vividly against their own wishes. Sexual abuse is often done by a trust person, like a family member, and having that person view the child as a sexual fix is traumatizing for the child. Post-traumatic stress allows all the initial feelings of the incident to reoccur keeping the other sexually abused symptoms persistent.
Depression, isolation, and anxiety are three psychological effects of adults sexually abused as children. Both these behaviors can lead to other destructive behaviors such as alcoholism and drug abuse. Sexually abused people experience trouble with interacting and creating solid, healthy relationships with others due to poor social skills, inability to disclose details due to a fear of closeness.
Finkelhor
did another telephone survey which he divided the participants into three
groups: victims with intercourse, victims with no intercourse, and non-victims.
The results from the survey showed that there were significant differences in
adjustment for males and females. Both groups reported less satisfaction with
current heterosexual relationships and higher level of martial disruption.Finkelhor attributes these results to the fact that people
will naturally have different attitudes of themselves and others after a
traumatizing experience that produces long-term effects.
Revicitimization
is another common occurrence of sexually abused individuals. Research points to
the likelihood that a sexually abused person will end up in an abusive
relationship or being raped greatly increases. A victim learns what unhealthy
love is and portrays that love to others, often ending them up in great risk
situations and repeating the cycle.
Researchers and others today are
realizing the need to recognize psotential sexual
abuse symptoms. People living in these symptoms are constantly reminded of the
traumatizing situation with little relief. With more sexually abused
individuals being helped, it is a beginning to living a healthy life and ending
the violent cycle. Paolucci, E., Genuis, M., & Volato,
C. (2001). A Meta-Analysis of the Publisher Research
on the Effects of Child Sexual Abuse. The Journal of Psychology, 135(1) 17-36. Putnam, F. (2003). Ten-Year
Research Update Review: Child Sexual Abuse. Journal of the American Academy
of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 42(3) 269-78. Rind, B., & Tromovitch,
P. (1997). A Meta-Analytic Review of Findings from
National Samples on Psychological Correlates of Child Sexual Abuse. The Journal of Sex Research, 34, 237-255. Effects of Traumatic Stress in a Disaster Situation (http://www.ncptsd.va.gov/facts/disasters/fs_effects_disaster.html
) The Effects of Childhood Sexual Abuse (http://www.apa.org/releases/sexabuse/effects.html
) Contributed By Jane Fisher, February 19, 2006.Conclusion
References
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