Association Between Self-reported Childhood Sexual Abuse and Adverse Psychosocial Outcomes

Increased risk for serious adverse outcomes has been associated with a history of childhood sexual abuse (CSA). Whether these risks are directly attributable to CSA rather than family background remains controversial.

Structured psychiatric telephone interviews were conducted from February 1996 to September 2000 with both members of 1991 same-sex pairs (1159 female and 832 male pairs) from a young adult Australian volunteer twin panel (mean [SD] age, 29.9 [2.5] years). A binary composite CSA variable was constructed from responses to 5 component questions. The association between CSA and adverse psychosocial outcomes was examined, controlling for family background.