Joint Consequences of Parental Alcoholism and Childhood Sexual Abuse, and Their Partial Mediation by Family Environment

This study investigated the effects of childhood sexual abuse and parental alcoholism in a sample of university women. Current symptoms of anxiety and depression were measured together with retrospective reports of subjects' families of origin. Using a 2X2 factorial design, main effects on symp...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Violence and victims 1992-01, Vol.7 (4), p.313-325
Main Authors: Yama, Mark F., Tovey, Stephanie L., Fogas, Bruce S., Teegarden, Lisa A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Adults
Alcoholism
Alcoholism - psychology
Anxiety Disorders - psychology
Behavioral Sciences
Biological and medical sciences
Child Abuse, Sexual - psychology
Child of Impaired Parents - psychology
Children of alcoholics
Colleges & universities
Counseling
Depressive Disorder - psychology
Families & family life
Family - psychology
Female
Gender Identity
Humans
Marriage and Family Counselling
Medical sciences
Personality Assessment
Personality Development
Personality disorders
Policy, Social Justice, and Human Rights
Psychology
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Risk factors
Sex crimes
Social and Personality Psychology
Social Environment
Social Work
Victimology
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Summary:This study investigated the effects of childhood sexual abuse and parental alcoholism in a sample of university women. Current symptoms of anxiety and depression were measured together with retrospective reports of subjects' families of origin. Using a 2X2 factorial design, main effects on symptoms were obtained for sexual abuse and parental alcoholism, but their interaction was not significant. With respect to family environment, a history of sexual abuse was associated with perceptions that families of origin had less cohesion, more conflict, less emphasis on moral-religious matters, less emphasis on achievement, and less of an orientation towards intellectual, cultural, and recreational pursuits. Similarly, subjects who had alcoholic parents reported less family cohesion, more conflict, and less emphasis on moral-religious matters. Results of analyses of co variance suggested that family environment was a mediator of current symptoms of anxiety, but not symptoms of depression.
ISSN:0886-6708
1945-7073
DOI:10.1891/0886-6708.7.4.313