RESUMO
A large body of research has documented the harmful effects of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) on adult mental health among females, but less work has examined this issue among males. This study examined whether gender moderated the relationship between CSA and adult mental health among a mixed-gender sample of 406 undergraduates. A Pearson chi-square test indicated that a significantly greater proportion of females (41.6%) than males (30.7%) reported a history of CSA. ANCOVAs tested whether gender, CSA status, and their interaction were related to adult mental health symptomatology as measured by Brief Symptom Inventory gender-normed t scores. Participants with a history of CSA reported significantly higher levels of global mental health problems, hostility, paranoid ideation, and psychoticism. The gender by CSA status interaction was not significant for any scale, indicating that the harmful effects of CSA on adult mental health did not vary by gender.
Assuntos
Sobreviventes Adultos de Maus-Tratos Infantis/estatística & dados numéricos , Abuso Sexual na Infância/estatística & dados numéricos , Transtornos Mentais/epidemiologia , Saúde Mental , Estudantes/estatística & dados numéricos , Adulto , Sobreviventes Adultos de Maus-Tratos Infantis/psicologia , Causalidade , Distribuição de Qui-Quadrado , Criança , Abuso Sexual na Infância/psicologia , Comorbidade , Depressão/epidemiologia , Feminino , Florida/epidemiologia , Humanos , Masculino , Transtornos Mentais/classificação , Prevalência , Estudos Retrospectivos , Índice de Gravidade de Doença , Distribuição por Sexo , Estudantes/psicologia , Inquéritos e QuestionáriosRESUMO
Human sexuality researchers and institutional review boards often are concerned about the sensitive nature of the information that they obtain and whether this type of research increases the psychological risks to participants. To date, there are almost no empirical data that address this issue. We administered state and trait measures of anger, anxiety, and depression to 207 females who were administered four questionnaires that asked them to reveal highly sensitive, sexually explicit information, including questions regarding childhood sexual abuse. Then they were readministered the state and trait measures of distress. We found no significant differences, even among those who reported being sexually abused as children, suggesting that such studies do not significantly increase the risk of psychological harm to participants.
