The relationship of child maltreatment and self-capacities with distress when telling one's story of childhood sexual abuse. Journal of child sexual abuse Palesh, O., Classen, C. C., Field, N., Kraemer, H. C., Spiegel, D. 2007; 16 (4): 63-80

Abstract

This study examined the impact of telling one's story of childhood sexual abuse and its relationship with the survivor's self-capacities and history of other child maltreatment. The baseline data were collected from 134 female CSA survivors who were participating in a large intervention study. Participants were given 10 minutes to describe their childhood sexual abuse and completed a post-interview questionnaire assessing post-traumatic stress symptoms and their emotional response. The distress in response to their narrative was both predicted and mediated by the survivors' self-capacities and other forms of child maltreatment beyond child sexual abuse.

View details for PubMedID 18032246