Behavioral Psychology / Psicología Conductua (BP) is published by IMR Press from Volume 33 Issue 1 (2025). Previous articles were published by another publisher under the hybrid model (CC-BY-NC license or on a subscription basis), and they are hosted by IMR Press on imrpress.com as a courtesy and upon agreement.
1 Universidad de Granada, España
2 Universidad de Cádiz, España
*Correspondencia: Mª Rosario Cortés Arboleda, Facultad de Psicología, Campus de Cartuja, Universidad de Granada, 18071 Granada.
E-mail: mcortes@ugr.es
Abstract
This study analyzes the contribution of the nature and continuity of sexual abuse and the variables related to the family environment to the variability on the psychological adjustment of the survivors. The participants, 209 female college student survivors of child sexual abuse (CSA), and a comparison group, completed during two sessions the Child Sexual Abuse Questionnaire, the Family Environment Scale, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale. Results of the regression analyses showed that the type of sexual abuse, but not its continuity, significantly predicted the present psychological adjustment of the college student CSA survivors. Moreover, the variables of the family environment (expressiveness, achievement orientation and social-recreational orientation) were related to a better adjustment. Expressiveness of positive feelings was the only family variable that predicted the three measures of psychological adjustment, having also a stronger predictive power than the two other variables. Finally, the combination of family variables predicted the survivor’s adjustment better than the nature of CSA, especially in the case of self-esteem.
Keywords
- child sexual abuse
- family environment
- psychological adjustment
