Questionnaires were distributed to 1,500 female nurses in 2 large hospitals in northern New England. Only 54 women returned questionnaires indicating that they had experienced childhood sexual abuse. These subjects were then matched with 54 nonabused control subjects. The findings in this study indicate that on measures of current sexual functioning there were no significant differences between adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse and their matched controls. However, on measures of psychological adjustment, the two groups did differ significantly indicating a long-term negative impact of childhood sexual abuse. The abused group reported more symptoms of distress on the Global Severity Index and on seven out of nine subscales of the Derogatis Brief Symptom Inventory. They also reported more disturbance on a scale which examined psychological symptoms that have been commonly reported in the literature to be particularly associated with sexual abuse. 2 tables and 29 references (Author abstract modified)