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Child Sexual Abuse and Mental Health in Adolescents and Adults

NCJ Number
161767
Author(s)
C Bagley
Date Published
1995
Length
238 pages
Annotation
This monograph reports on seven research projects that studied children and adolescents whose long-term mental health was undermined by sexual abuse and exploitation.
Abstract
What is extraordinary about child sexual abuse is not the extent of this exploitation of children, but the fact that so many human cultures have tolerated it, and may still do so. As part of his documentation of findings in the area of child sexual abuse and its effects on the mental health of adolescents and adults, the author discusses the following, much of it drawn from some British and Canadian studies of victims and their families: (1) adult mental health sequels of child sexual abuse, physical abuse, and neglect in maternally separated children; (2) juvenile prostitution and child sexual abuse; (3) incest revelation as a mental health crisis for mothers; (4) mental health and behavioral sequels of child sexual abuse in a community survey of young adult males; and (5) sexual and physical child abuse and the development of dissociative personality traits. Tables, figure, references, index