| In 2007, the rate of child sexual abuse were reported as 12% to 35% for females and 5% to 9% for males in the United States and were thought to be similar around the world (Young et al., 2007). A history of child sexual abuse has been linked to sadness, depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder, antisocial personality traits, conduct issues, hostility, and psychoticism (Horwitz, Widom, Mclaughlin, & White, 2001; Sansonnet-Hayden, Haley, Marriage, & Fine, 1987; Schneider, Baumrind, & Kimnerling, 2007; Swanston et al., 2003; Young, Harford, Kinder, & Savell, 2007). The purpose of this research was to evaluate a correlation between early treatment of child sexual abuse victims and better mental health as adults, particularly in reporting less anxiety and depression.;Data were collected from 56 adult survivors of child sexual abuse from Fresno County, CA; San Diego County, CA; the greater Chicago, IL area; and Merrillville, IN area. There were complete data for and data analysis was based on answers from 23 of those participants. Results found that adult survivors of child sexual abuse who had therapy as children and did not have family histories of anxiety had higher levels of anxiety when compared to survivors who did not have therapy as children and did have family histories of anxiety. No other significant differences were found.;The major clinical implication of this research suggests that children should be treated symptomatically regardless of parental knowledge or awareness of the experience of sexual abuse. Clinicians should consider using trauma-focused, cognitive-behavioral therapy with child sexual abuse victims due to the positive outcomes exhibited in the research of recent years. Clinicians should also consider including parents in the treatment. Ideally, future research should be longitudinal when examining long-term effects of treating child sexual abuse victims. When longitudinal research is not feasible, research similar to this dissertation study should be done with a much larger sample size and includes many other factors affecting the mental health of the survivors. |
