Abuse Severity, Family Environment, and Caregiver Distress as Predictors of Adjustment Among Sexually Abused Youth

Much of the research on childhood sexual abuse (CSA) has utilized demographic factors (e.g., the gender, age, and race/ethnicity of the child victim) and specific characteristics of the abusive experience (e.g., the severity of abuse, the relationship between the perpetrator and the child victim, the child\u27s age at the onset of abuse, etc.) as predictors of children\u27s adjustment. Unfortunately, the ability of such factors to predict children\u27s adjustment consistently across studies has been limited. Alternatively, while it has been recognized that survivors of CSA often hail from dysfunctional family environments and that the disclosure of CSA frequently results in emotional distress for caregivers, less research has focused on how these factors may serve to influence sexually abused children\u27s adjustment. This study included 163 sexually abused youth and their non-offending caregivers who completed measures of psychological adjustment and the family environment. Demographic information and abuse-related characteristics were also collected. Children\u27s age, gender, and race/ethnicity were not significantly predictive of emotional adjustment. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the direct and indirect effects of total abuse severity, caregiver distress, and children\u27s perceptions of their family environments as predictors of emotional adjustment. Results indicated that both children\u27s perceptions of their family environments and total abuse severity were significantly predictive of children\u27s emotional adjustment, whereas caregiver distress did not have significant direct or indirect effect on adjustment. Finally, the implications of these findings for future research and the development of effective interventions for sexually abused children and their families was discusse