Resilience in sexually abused women: Risk and protective factors

The goal of this study was to evaluate the contribution of family characteristics (family conflict and cohesion) and abuse characteristics (age at which abuse occurred, abuse severity, and relationship to perpetrator) to resilience (self-acceptance, ability to engage in positive relationships with others, and environmental mastery) in a sample of one hundred and 77 university women who had experienced childhood sexual abuse (CSA). The respondents completed a questionnaire that focused on childhood experiences including family environment in childhood, characteristics of the abuse they had experienced in addition to degree of current resilience defined as their level of well-being (self-acceptance, ability to engage in positive relationships with others, and environmental mastery). The results indicated that family characteristics accounted for 13-22% of the variance in the well-being outcomes. In contrast, abuse characteristics accounted for 3% or less of the variance in the well-being outcomes. The clinical implications of these findings are discussed.