The Relation Between Early Abuse and Adult Sexuality. - Free Online Library

Despite an expansive literature on the psychological correlates of childhood abuse, the possible relationships between specific categories of early abuse (e.g., sexual, physical, psychological) and adult sexuality have received little research attention. Those studies that have examined a relationship between childhood abuse and adult sexuality understandably have focused almost exclusively on sexual abuse. Decreases in sexual functioning such as sexual aversion, anxiety or avoidance, decreased sexual desire or sexual self-esteem, inhibited sexual arousal or orgasm, vaginismus, dyspareunia, and negative attitudes toward sexuality and intimate relationships in general have all been linked to a history of early sexual abuse (for reviews, see Beitchman et al, 1992; Browne & Finklehor, 1986; Gilmartin, 1994). The prevalence and severity of these findings have been questioned as being dependent on the type of sample studied (Okami, 1991; Rind, 1995). Although Laumann, Gagnon, Michael, and Michaels' (1994) random probability U.S. sample found that men with sexual abuse histories reported three out of nine sexually related problems and women reported four out of eight problems, the differences between sexually abused and non-sexually-abused groups were modest. This was further quantified in meta-analyses by Rind and Tromovich (1997), and Rind, Tromovitch, and Bauserman (1998) who calculated only small effect sizes on all the significant sexual problem variables. Other research on both clinical and nonclinical samples has noted that early sexual abuse is correlated with more sexuality in adulthood as indicated by greater variety of sexual activity and more lifetime sexual partners (deYoung, 1982; Herman, 1981; Laumann et al., 1994; Seidner & Calhoun, 1984).