| Two hundred and sixty-four female undergraduate students completed likert-scaled self-report measures in the following areas: (a) childhood abuse and trauma (independent variable); (b) attachment style, physical self-efficacy, locus of control, self-esteem, hope, neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, conscientiousness, maternal bonding, paternal bonding, socially supported behaviors, perceived social support from family and friends, social network orientation (16 mediating variables which were standardized and summed to yield a composite index score); and (c) depression, clinical symptoms, and social adjustment (dependent variables). Four groups were categorized based on cut-off scores: (a) a control group without histories of childhood sexual abuse and with higher levels of composite index of protective factors (n = 109), (b) a group without histories of abuse and with lower levels of composite index of protective factors (n = 99), a group with histories of abuse and with higher levels of composite index of protective factors (n = 17), and a group with histories of abuse and with lower levels of composite index of protective factors (n = 27).;It was hypothesized that the level of the composite index of protective factors would be significantly associated with the level of adult functioning for all individuals. In addition, it was hypothesized that the group with histories of childhood sexual abuse and higher levels of protective factors would appear similar in adult adaptation to those without histories of abuse and higher levels of protective factors. Both hypotheses were clearly supported by the data. Specifically, multiple regression analyses demonstrated that higher levels of protective factors were associated with higher levels of adult adaptation for all individuals. Furthermore, multiple regression analyses showed that higher levels of protective factors had a stronger mediating effect for the group with histories of childhood sexual abuse such that the levels of adult functioning of this group were not significantly different from those of the control group. For this sample, though the protective factors were beneficial for most individuals, they were significantly more helpful for those with histories of childhood sexual abuse. (Abstract shortened by UMI.). |
