Child Sexual Abuse and Number of Sexual Partners in Young Women: The Role of Abuse Severity, Coping Style, and Sexual Functioning

The authors proposed and tested a model describing distinct pathways through which childhood sexual abuse (CSA) may lead to relatively low or high numbers of sexual partners in adulthood. Path analyses were conducted on survey responses of young female U.S. Navy recruits who reported CSA ( N = 547)....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of consulting and clinical psychology 2003-12, Vol.71 (6), p.987-996
Main Authors: Merrill, Lex L, Guimond, Jennifer M, Thomsen, Cynthia J, Milner, Joel S
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptation, Psychological
Adolescent
Adolescents
Adult
Avoidance
Biological and medical sciences
Child
Child Abuse
Child abuse & neglect
Child Abuse, Sexual - diagnosis
Child Abuse, Sexual - psychology
Child Abuse, Sexual - statistics & numerical data
Child Sexual Abuse
Childhood sexual abuse
Children
Coping Behavior
Coping strategies
Coping Style
Defense Mechanisms
Female
Human
Human Females
Humans
Medical sciences
Mental health
Military Personnel - psychology
Navy Personnel
Personality Inventory
Psychology
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychometrics
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Psychosexual Behavior
Psychosexual Development
Reproducibility of Results
Self-Destructive Behavior
Severity (Disorders)
Sex crimes
Sexual Abuse
Sexual assault
Sexual Behavior
Sexual behaviour
Sexual Partners
Sexual Risk Taking
Strategies
USA
Victimology
Women
Young adults
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Summary:The authors proposed and tested a model describing distinct pathways through which childhood sexual abuse (CSA) may lead to relatively low or high numbers of sexual partners in adulthood. Path analyses were conducted on survey responses of young female U.S. Navy recruits who reported CSA ( N = 547). Use of avoidant strategies to cope with CSA was expected to produce higher levels of sexual problems and fewer heterosexual sex partners, whereas use of self-destructive coping strategies was expected to result in more dysfunctional sexual behavior and more heterosexual sex partners. As predicted, the effect of CSA on number of sex partners was largely mediated by coping strategies and dysfunctional sexual behavior.
ISSN:0022-006X
1939-2117
DOI:10.1037/0022-006X.71.6.987