Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Availability

Open Access Thesis

Keywords

Adult child sexual abuse victims--Iowa; College students--Mental health--Iowa--Cedar Falls; Adult child sexual abuse victims; College students--Mental health; Iowa; Iowa--Cedar Falls;

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a relationship between childhood sexual abuse and adult revictimization. Two hypotheses were examined. It was hypothesized that childhood victims of sexual abuse were more likely to be revictimized as adults. It was also hypothesized that there would be significant differences in demographic and psychosocial correlates between victims of childhood sexual abuse and those who did not report childhood sexual abuse.

The Health and Safety Survey was administered to 589 students at the University of Northern Iowa. There were 398 female respondents and 182 male respondents. The Health and Safety Survey was a 120-item survey designed to gather information about a variety of health and social issues at the University of Northern Iowa. Modified versions of the Childhood Sexual Experiences Questionnaire and the Sexual Experiences Survey were used to gather data about childhood sexual abuse and adult sexual abuse. Subscales were used to measure psychosocial correlates such as depression, efficacy, eating disorders, overload, and alcohol abuse.

There was a statistically significant relationship between childhood sexual abuse and adult revictimization. Those who reported childhood sexual abuse were more likely to experience sexual abuse as adults. There was no significant relationship between childhood sexual abuse and any of the psychosocial correlates studied among the female population. Among the male population, the only significant relationship was between childhood sexual abuse and alcohol abuse. There were no other significant relationships between childhood sexual abuse and the other psychosocial correlates.

Year of Submission

2000

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

School of Health, Physical Education, and Leisure Services

First Advisor

Diane Depken

Second Advisor

Dennis Cryer

Third Advisor

Michele Yehieli

Comments

If you are the rightful copyright holder of this thesis and wish to have it removed from the Open Access Collection, please submit a request to scholarworks@uni.edu and include clear identification of the work, preferably with URL.

Date Original

2000

Object Description

1 PDF file (92 leaves)

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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