Child sexual abuse, interpersonal difficulties, and staying in relationships with intimate partner violence: a preliminary study

This study explores the relationship between child sexual abuse, interpersonal difficulties, and intimate partner violence. Three inventories were used to assess each factor in this research: child violence experience (5 items), interpersonal difficulties (16 items), and adult violence victimization (3 items). Twenty-ninth females from the Syracuse University Couple and Family Therapy Center completed inventories. Respondents were categorized into four groups: no victimization (group 1); child violence (CV) victimization with no adult revictimization (group 2); CV with single adult victimization (group 3); CV with long-term intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization (group 4). The researcher hypothesized that 1) child sexual abuse (CSA) will lead to adult interpersonal difficulties; 2) Re-victimized CSA survivors will have more interpersonal difficulties than those CSA survivors who have not experienced IPV; and 3) CSA victims who stay in IPV relationships will have more interpersonal difficulties. The sample size was small so descriptive and correlational analysis was also conducted. The preliminary results show that CSA can lead to some interpersonal difficulties. The pattern of interpersonal difficulties across four groups were presented, which indicated that people who stayed in abusive intimate relationships might have different profiles from people who experienced single or short-term revictimization. Limitations of this study and suggestions for future researches were included