Gender and the associated impairments of childhood sexual abuse: A national study of Icelandic youth

Martha Gault-Sherman, Eric Silver and Inga Dóra Sigfúsdóttir

Social Science & Medicine, 2009, vol. 69, issue 10, 1515-1522

Abstract: The current study used a national probability sample of 8618 Icelandic youth between the ages of 16 and 20 to examine the impairments associated with childhood sexual abuse for male and female victims. The dimensions of impairment were: general anxiety, eating anxiety, depressed mood, theft, and violent behavior. Overall, our results suggest that gender differences in impairment may depend on the particular outcome measured: (1) females were approximately three times more likely than males to experience childhood sexual abuse; (2) the association between childhood sexual abuse and subsequent depressed mood and general anxiety varied significantly by gender, with females more likely to experience these impairments; and (3) the associations between childhood sexual abuse and subsequent eating anxiety, theft, and violent behavior did not vary by gender.

Keywords: Iceland; Sexual; abuse; Gender; Delinquency; Mental; health; Youth; Children (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277-9536(09)00580-2
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:socmed:v:69:y:2009:i:10:p:1515-1522

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/supportfaq.cws_home/regional
http://www.elsevier. ... _01_ooc_1&version=01

Access Statistics for this article

Social Science & Medicine is currently edited by Ichiro (I.) Kawachi and S.V. (S.V.) Subramanian

More articles in Social Science & Medicine from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().