Fifty-two adult survivors (15 men, 37 women) of childhood paternal sexual abuse who had completed therapy were interviewed about their past and current lives. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used, namely a questionnaire and an interview, respectively. The interviews revealed three types of explanations for the offenders' abusive behavior (fathers and/or mothers in terms of compliance): characteristics of the offender-parent (incestuous father), the victim's characteristics, and circumstantial conditions. A higher percentage of survivors who attributed the abuse to the offender's characteristics managed to keep their self-esteem fairly intact and had a higher quality of life, in contrast to survivors who took full blame on themselves or blamed situational factors. Male survivors judged their quality of life as less satisfactory than did female survivors. Tables, references