Long-Term Effects of Incestuous Child Abuse in College Women Social Adjustment, Social Cognition, and Family Characteristics

• Published in: Journal of consulting and clinical psychology Vol. 56; no. 1; pp. 5 - 8
• Main Authors: Harter, Stephanie, Alexander, Pamela C, Neimeyer, Robert A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Psychological Association 01-02-1988
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Biological and medical sciences; Child Abuse; Child abuse & neglect; Child Abuse, Sexual - psychology; Early Experience; Families & family life; Family; Family Relations; Female; Human; Human Females; Humans; Incest; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Psychology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Sex crimes; Social Adjustment; Social Isolation; Social Perception; Social psychiatry. Ethnopsychiatry; Social research; Social Skills; Sociocultural environment; Victimization; Women; Human; Sexual violence; Incest; Family environment; Social adaptation; Child abuse syndrome; Victimology; Child; Social cognition
• ISSN: 0022-006X; 1939-2117
• DOI: 10.1037/0022-006X.56.1.5

This study investigated family and social cognitive characteristics as possible mediators of social adjustment. Subjects were 85 college women, including 29 with a history of sexual abuse by a family member and 56 control subjects with no history of abuse. Results indicated decreased cohesion and adaptability in the family of origin, increased perception of social isolation, and poorer social adjustment among abused subjects. Additional analyses suggested that family characteristics and increased perceptions of social isolation were more predictive of social maladjustment than abuse per se. However, abuse by a paternal figure was related to poorer social adjustment even after significant family and social-cognitive variables were controlled.