| Although self-destructive behaviors (SDBs) have been investigated extensively in psychological literature, what these behaviors mean in relation to one's past experience is not clear. Whether SDBs are clinical or subclinical remains a controversy in the current psychological literature. A strong link between early childhood sexual abuse (ECSA) and SDBs has been established in the literature, however the dynamics to explain the link are not well understood. This study focuses on women whose SDBs follow sexual abuse that occurred in early childhood, with particular attention to penetration as an influencing factor. Due to investigating a unique population, the term "females" is used in the research questions for clarity. This study attempted to isolate penetration as the critical variable in the development of SDBs, however it must be noted that 58.9% of the cases provided by the respondents involved other forms of trauma at the time of the initial sexual abuse, which could influence the findings. The theoretical framework guiding this study is Sigmund Freud's psychosexual concept of internal and external influences on human development. This study surveyed licensed mental health professionals across the United States who advertised that they have experience treating victims of ECSA. An analysis of variance was used to compare the mean scores between two groups, one where there was penetration during ECSA and one where there was no penetration, to determine the differences between the groups when it comes to age of onset of SDBs, age at the time of abuse, severity of SDBs, and types of SDBs exhibited. The findings do suggest binge drinking, drug use, and suicide attempts are more likely to occur if there was penetration during ECSA. The number needed for a significant power effect was 210. The response rate was lower than expected (N=57). No significant differences were found between the two groups. |
