Childhood Abuse and Age at Menarche

Purpose—Physical and sexual abuse are prevalent social hazards. We sought to examine the association between childhood physical and sexual abuse and age at menarche. Methods—Among 68,505 participants enrolled in the Nurses’ Health Study II we investigated the association between childhood physical abuse and sexual abuse on menarche prior to age 11 (early) or after age 15 (late) using multivariate logistic regression analysis, mutually adjusting for both types of abuse. Results—Fifty-seven percent of respondents reported some form of physical or sexual abuse in childhood. We found a positive dose-response association between severity of sexual abuse in childhood and risk for early menarche. Compared to women who reported no childhood sexual abuse, the adjusted odds ratio [AOR] for early menarche was 1.20 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.10, 1.37) for sexual touching and 1.49 (95% CI, 1.34, 1.66) for forced sexual activity. Only severe physical abuse predicted early menarche (AOR=1.22, 95% CI, 1.10–1.37). Childhood physical abuse had a dose-response association with late age at menarche: AOR 1.17 (95% CI, 1.04, 1.32) for mild, 1.20 (95% CI, 1.08, 1.33) for moderate, and 1.50 (95% CI, 1.27, 1.77) for severe physical abuse. Sexual abuse was not associated with late menarche. Conclusion—Childhood abuse was very prevalent in this large cohort of U.S. women. Severity of childhood sexual abuse was associated with risk for early onset of menarche, and physical abuse was associated with both early and late onset menarche. Implications and Contribution—The severity of childhood sexual abuse and severe physical abuse were associated with risk for accelerated menarche, while severity of childhood physical was associated with risk for delayed onset of menarche. The nature of the association between different forms of childhood adversities and reproductive lifespan may vary

Are Childhood Sexual Abuse and Intimate Safety in Adult Intimate Relationships Correlated?

Individuals who have experienced childhood sexual abuse report numerous problems in intimate relationships, including their physical and sexual experience. Satisfying sexuality arises from intimate safety, the prerequisite for which is mutual trust, which, however, can be impaired due to betrayal in individuals who were traumatized by sexual abuse in their childhood. In a study with 168 participants, we were interested in differences in intimate safety within intimate relationships (measured by the ISQ – Intimate Safety Questionnaire subscale which refers to sexual safety). Differences were studied within two groups of couples – those who had experienced childhood sexual abuse and those who had never experienced the sexual abuse in childhood. We found that among the participating couples, in 42 (50%) couples at least one of the partners experienced at least one type of sexual abuse. One or more types of sexual abuse in childhood were experienced by 12 (14%) men and 39 (46.4%) women. We also found that in couples who had experienced sexual abuse in childhood and couples who had not, there is a difference in intimate safety in their sexual life. The couples who had not experienced sexual abuse in childhood reported statistically significantly higher sexual safety in their intimate relationships. We can conclude that childhood sexual abuse trauma is expressed in sexual intimacy with mistrust, which through the decreased feeling of safety inhibits individuals’ vulnerability and reduces the opportunity to create intimacy. The survey was limited by a biased sample.Individuals who have experienced childhood sexual abuse report numerous problems in intimate relationships, including their physical and sexual experience. Satisfying sexuality arises from intimate safety, the prerequisite for which is mutual trust, which, however, can be impaired due to betrayal in individuals who were traumatized by sexual abuse in their childhood. In a study with 168 participants, we were interested in differences in intimate safety within intimate relationships (measured by the ISQ – Intimate Safety Questionnaire subscale which refers to sexual safety). Differences were studied within two groups of couples – those who had experienced childhood sexual abuse and those who had never experienced the sexual abuse in childhood. We found that among the participating couples, in 42 (50%) couples at least one of the partners experienced at least one type of sexual abuse. One or more types of sexual abuse in childhood were experienced by 12 (14%) men and 39 (46.4%) women. We also found that in couples who had experienced sexual abuse in childhood and couples who had not, there is a difference in intimate safety in their sexual life. The couples who had not experienced sexual abuse in childhood reported statistically significantly higher sexual safety in their intimate relationships. We can conclude that childhood sexual abuse trauma is expressed in sexual intimacy with mistrust, which through the decreased feeling of safety inhibits individuals’ vulnerability and reduces the opportunity to create intimacy. The survey was limited by a biased sample

Clarifying the Effects of Parental Substance Abuse, Child Sexual Abuse, and Parental Caregiving on Adult Adjustment

Parental alcoholism, childhood sexual abuse, and other forms of child maltreatment are generally viewed as contributing to adult adjustment problems. The long-term effects of these various factors, however, are actually not well understood. The present study found that the largest amount of variance in 255 college students\u27 psychological distress was explained by parental emotional abuse and neglect, with child sexual abuse, parental substance abuse, and other factors explaining additional but smaller amounts of variance in distress. This suggests that comprehensive conceptualizations of family influences on development will result in a more complete understanding of long-term adjustment outcomes than merely focusing on particular childhood risk factors

Read-React-Respond: An integrative model for understanding sexual revictimization

Females who have been sexually abused in childhood are at significantly higher risk to be revictimized in adolescence and adulthood. Revictimization is associated with a raft of adverse mental and physical health outcomes, and so understanding why victims of childhood sexual abuse are more vulnerable to later sexual assaults has critical implications for their development. It has been hypothesized that sexual abuse in childhood results in reduced ability to recognize and/or respond effectively to sexual threats later in life, but studies examining these ideas have produced inconsistent results. Further, this research has failed to incorporate the powerful physiological reaction elicited by threats of imminent harm to the self, which has the potential to disrupt cognitive processing and coping behavior. In the present paper, we propose a model of revictimization that integrates contemporary theory and research on the biological stress response with cognitive, affective, and behavioral factors believed to be involved in adaptive responding to sexual threats. The model provides a conceptual guide for understanding why females with a history of sexual abuse are more vulnerable to revictimization and offers ideas for improving prevention programs designed to strengthen females’ ability to resist sexual coercion

Going through the rites of passage: timing and transition of menarche, childhood sexual abuse, and anxiety symptoms in girls.

Menarche is a discrete, transitional event that holds considerable personal, social, biological, and developmental significance. The present longitudinal study examined both the transition and timing of menarche on the trajectory of anxiety in girls with histories of childhood maltreatment (N = 93; 63% European American, 14% multiracial, 10% Latino, 9% African American, and 4% Native American). We hypothesized that because menarche is a novel, unfamiliar experience, girls would show greater anxiety around the time of menarche. The anxiety-provoking nature of menarche may be accentuated among earlier-maturing girls and girls with histories of childhood sexual abuse. Results indicated that earlier-maturing girls were more anxious in the pre- and peri-menarche periods than their later-maturing peers; however, their anxiety declined after menarche. Childhood sexual abuse was associated with heightened anxiety throughout this transition. The developmental significance of the timing and transition of menarche in relation to childhood sexual abuse and anxiety is discussed

The Ohio Supreme Court Sets the Statute of Limitations and Adopts the Discovery Rule for Childhood Sexual Abuse Actions: Now It Is Time for Legislative Action

This Note discusses the issue of childhood sexual abuse and challenges the appropriateness of Ohio\u27s current statute of limitations for prosecuting a civil claim of childhood sexual abuse. Part II of this Note describes the problem of child sexual abuse in our society. Part III examines the short-and long-term effects of childhood sexual abuse, particularly memory repression. Part IV reviews the theory of recovered memories and the associated problems with reliability. Part V addresses Ohio\u27s governing statute of limitations for civil claims of childhood sexual abuse. Part VI reviews the history of the discovery rule in Ohio and its application to claims of childhood sexual abuse. Part VII examines the function of statute of limitations and proposes a new eight-year statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse actions in Ohio. Finally, Part VIII concludes that a longer statute of limitations is now more appropriate than the discovery rule because of the reliability problems associated with recovered memories

Recovered Memories and Accusations of Sexual Abuse: A Review of Scientific Research Relevant to Missionary Contexts

Childhood sexual abuse of missionary children is a tragedy that mission organizations are seeking to prevent. A second tragedy concerns missionaries falsely accused of sexual abuse. Psychotherapy that generated false memories of sexual abuse was common in the 1980s and 1990s and still continues to some degree today in Christian circles. This chapter reviews scientific evidence that such false memories exist and provides guidelines that Christian organizations may use to help sort true memories of childhood sexual abuse from false memories of childhood sexual abuse

From Childhood Sexual Abuse to Adult Risky Sexual Behavior

This study attempted to establish that the depressive effect of childhood sexual abuse on self-esteem mediates the established relationship between childhood sexual abuse and adult abuse victims' engagement in risky sexual behavior. Overall self-esteem did not significantly mediate this relationship. However, one factor of self-esteem, interest in maintaining a healthy lifestyle, significantly mediated the relationship between childhood sexual abuse and one factor of risky sexual behavior, engaging in sex acts with unknown partners

Die konstruksie van betekenis by seksuele molestering

The construction of meaning in sexual abuseThis article is based on the results obtained from a qualitative study undertaken with female survivors of childhood sexual abuse. The study underlying this article is grounded in social construction methodology, functioning as a metaparadigmatic context for the understanding of society’s attribution of meaning to childhood sexual abuse. This article focuses on the construction of meaning relating to the survivors’ experiences of childhood sexual abuse and their perceptions of these events when they were introduced to the social constructions about childhood sexual abuse in later life