Longitudinal child sexual abuse study confirms importance of helping victims cope with stigma, depression and anxiety to reduce later risk of delinquency

This study brings a new perspective to the impact of child sexual abuse on the development of delinquent behavior during adolescence and early adulthood. Though this association has been demonstrated in past studies, the process is not well understood. This study examined risk of delinquency for victims of child sexual abuse, using a longitudinal design to help identify mediating variables. The studied variables included stigmatization, internal symptoms, anger and affiliation with deviant peers, chosen on the basis of Finkelhor and Browne’s traumagenic model (1985). Youth (n = 160) between 8 and 15 years of age were recruited from an investigation of recently experienced sexual abuse (eight weeks or less), mostly investigated by youth protection services (95%). Sexual abuse was substantiated in all cases. The sample consisted primarily of girls (73%), living in a lone-parent family (67%) and below the poverty line (64%; family income of $25,000 or less). The majority of victims were between 8 and 11 years old (55%) and the largest ethnic group were Afro-Americans (41%). They had experienced intrusive sexual abuse in most of the cases (66% penetration). Out of this group, 147 youngsters were reexamined a year later, and 121 were reexamined six years following the initial evaluation. Validated questionnaires were used to collect data. Using structural equation modeling, the authors found that stigmatization and internal symptoms (measured at time 1 and 2) are both correlated to anger at time 3, which directly influenced the affiliation with deviant peers and the adoption of delinquent behavior. The affiliation with deviant peers also had a direct effect on delinquent behavior. The victim’s sex as well as the sexual abuse severity displayed few significant relationships on the predictability of delinquency. This study highlights the importance of interventions oriented to the sexual abuse victims’ treatment, and more precisely those including modules aiming at a decrease in stigmatization and internal symptoms. Based on this study’s outcomes, such interventions seem to decrease the impact of sexual abuse in the development of delinquent behavior during adolescence and early adulthood.