Elsevier

Child Abuse & Neglect

Volume 63, January 2017, Pages 273-283
Child Abuse & Neglect

Mental health indicators fifty years later: A population-based study of men with histories of child sexual abuse

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2016.09.011Get rights and content

Abstract

Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) is a widely acknowledged trauma that affects a substantial number of boys/men and has the potential to undermine mental health across the lifespan. Despite the topic’s importance, few studies have examined the long-term effects of CSA on mental health in middle and late life for men. Most empirical studies on the effects of CSA have been conducted with women, non-probability samples, and samples of young or emerging adults with inadequate control variables. Based on complex trauma theory, the current study investigated: a) the effect of CSA on mental health outcomes (depressive symptoms, somatic symptom severity, hostility) in late life for men, and b) the moderating effects of childhood adversities and masculine norms in the relationship between CSA and the three mental health outcomes. Using a population-based sample from the 2004–2005 Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, multivariate analyses found that CSA was positively related to both depressive and somatic symptoms and increased the likelihood of hostility for men who reported a history of CSA. Both childhood adversities and masculine norms were positively related to the three outcomes for the entire sample. Among CSA survivors, childhood adversities exerted a moderating effect in terms of depressive symptoms. Mental health practitioners should include CSA and childhood adversities in assessment and treatment with men. To more fully understand the effects of CSA, future studies are needed that use longitudinal designs, compare male and female survivors, and examine protective mechanisms such as social support.

Section snippets

Complex trauma theory

The diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was introduced in the third edition of the Diagnostic Statistical Manual (APA, 1980), largely in response to the mental health needs of returning Vietnam War veterans (Courtois, 2004). Despite its clinical utility as the foundational trauma disorder, clinicians and researchers noted that the symptom triad (i.e., re-experiencing, avoidance, and hyperarousal) of PTSD captured a limited range of symptoms that trauma survivors face (Ford &

Data source

The Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS) is a long-term population-based study of a random sample of 10,317 men and women who graduated from Wisconsin high schools in 1957 and 5823 of their randomly selected siblings (Hauser & Roan, 2006). After the first interview in 1957, the graduates were re-interviewed at subsequent time points by telephone or mailed questionnaires: 1975 (35–36 years of age), 1993 (53–54 years of age), 2004 (64–65 year of age), and 2011 (71–72 years of age). Data was also

Bivariate results

Table 1 presents correlations between all of the variables in the study. Table 2 presents the results of bivariate analyses between men who did and did not report being sexually abused in childhood. Mean comparisons indicated that men with a history of CSA had significantly higher scores on childhood adversities compared to non-abused adults (t(2444) = −7.88, p < 0.001). In terms of the dependent variables, abused men reported higher levels of depressive symptoms (t(2385) = −2.96, p < 0.05), and

Discussion

A central aim of this study was to examine whether CSA was related to several indicators of mental health for men in middle and late adulthood. After controlling for sociodemographic variables and childhood environmental factors (e.g., rural background, father’s educational attainment), we found that CSA was positively related to all three psychological outcomes for men: depressive symptoms, somatic symptom severity, and hostility. These findings indicate that CSA can have potentially

Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R03AG048768. The study also received financial support from the Boston College Institute on Aging (Aging Research Incentive Grant). The authors are grateful for the advice and assistance of Dr. Jan Greenberg (School of Social Work) and Dr. Jieun Song (Waisman Center) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

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