Reality testing in adult women who report childhood sexual and physical abuse

• Published in: Child abuse & neglect 1999-11, Vol.23 (11), p.1193-1203
• Main Authors: Sacco, Marie L, Farber, Barry A
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Abuse; Adolescent; Adult; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Child Abuse; Child Abuse - diagnosis; Child Abuse - psychology; Childhood abuse; Dissociation; Dissociative Disorders - diagnosis; Dissociative Disorders - etiology; Dissociative Disorders - psychology; Emotional Disturbances; Female; Females; Humans; Medical sciences; Perceptual Impairments; Predictor Variables; Psychological Characteristics; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Reality; Reality testing; Severity of Illness Index; Sexual Abuse; Social Desirability; Surveys and Questionnaires; Testing; Truth Disclosure; Victimology; Women
• ISSN: 0145-2134; 1873-7757
• DOI: 10.1016/S0145-2134(99)00077-0

Objective: The primary aim of this study was to investigate the differential effects of sexual and physical abuse in childhood on the quality of reality testing (perceptual disorders and dissociative symptoms) in later adult life. Method: Two hundred and fifty-nine female volunteers between the ages of 18 and 30 recruited from college campuses completed self-report measures assessing sexual and physical abuse in childhood as well as current perceptual impairments (reality distortion, uncertainty of perceptions, hallucinations and delusions, and psychoticism) and dissociation (amnesia, absorption and imaginative involvement, and depersonalization and derealization). Results: Women who report abuse in childhood dissociate more than nonabused women, although they do not experience more perceptual distortions. Duration of abuse, age of onset of abuse, number of perpetrators, and relationship of perpetrator to victim predicted difficulties in many aspects of reality testing. Women who report both childhood sexual and physical abuse are especially prone to acknowledge dissociative phenomena. Conclusions: These findings suggest that college women who report abuse continue to experience acceptable accuracy in their reality testing but, in comparison to their cohorts who have not been abused, more often become “distant” from the world and their own sensory experiences. Objectif: Cette étude avait comme but principal d’étudier comment les abus sexuels et physiques en enfance exercent des effets différents sur la capacité des victimes, une fois devenues adultes, de percevoir la réalité (désordres de la perception et symptômes de dissociation). Méthode: On a recuté 259 collégiennes âgées entre 18 et 30 ans qui ont complété un questionnaire, lequel mesurait les abus physiques et sexuels vécus dans leur enfance, ainsi que leurs difficultés au niveau de la perception (distorsions de la réalité, incertitudes, hallucinations, délires et états psychotiques) et de la dissociation (amnésie, dépersonalisation, etc.). Résultats: Celles qui furent victimes de mauvais traitements manifestent plus souvent des troubles dissociatifs que les femmes non abusées, cependant elles ne démontrent pas un niveau de distorsions de la perception qui soit plus élevé. Les difficultés de perception sont affectées par les facteurs tels que la durée des expériences abusives, l’âge de la victime lors des premières expériences, le nombre d’agresseurs et la relation entre la victime et l’agresseur. Le