Factors which influence the impact of abuse

Let's consider how the impact depends on characteristics of the sexual relation. The factors usually considered are use of force, duration over time, frequency, whether penetration occured, and if the relation is incestuous.

Hypothesis 1: causality and dependence on abuse-related variables

If the relation between sexual abuse and harm is causal, there should be a dependence between characteristics of the abuse and the impact.

But there is enough evidence for positive correlation of CSA with a lot of different variables which may be independent explanations for harm: physical abuse, psychological abuse, neglect, divorce of parents, low income, having few friends. If the harm is caused by these variables, we would not expect a dependency of the harm from abuse-related variables.

Therefore, the question how much of the abuse depends on abuse-related variables indicates how much of the harm is causally related with the abuse.

The meta-analysis below shows a small dependence on some abuse-related factors (force and incest) which suggests that this part (~ 15% of the whole impact) may be causally related with abuse.

Hypothesis 2: force and incest vs. other factors

According to our thesis, volition should be the most important factor: volitional sex would be harmless, and only unwanted sex leads to negative impact. Unfortunately, this variable is seldom considered in empirical research. Nonetheless, we can use the information about these other variables too.

If the quality of the relation (volitional or not) explains harm, we would expect that the results depend on variables which describe the relation (use of force, incest or not). If the sex is harmful, we would expect that the harm depends on sexual intensity (penetration or not, frequency, duration in time).

We can even make a hypothesis about the type of dependence. Indeed, use of force is absent in volitional relations. In incest cases we have a higher power difference, therefore, we can expect a lower probability of volitional sex. Thus, the hypothesis is that force is the most important factor, followed by incest.

The results of research, as shown by the following meta-analysis, are in ideal agreement with this hypothesis. Force is the most important factor (12.25%) followed by incest (1.69%), the other (sexual) abuse-related factors are not significant.

Extracts from the meta-analysis of Rind et.al. 1998

[] CSA has no inevitable outcome, but depends on the context in which it occurs. To examine context [], we focused just on subjects in the college samples who had CSA to see what factors might or might not be related to their reactions or symptoms. The contextual factors we examined were the frequency of CSA episodes, their duration over time, the use of force, whether penetration occurred, and whether the CSA was incestuous.

Table 8 shows the results of our analyses. Contrary to popular assumptions, reactions were not more negative, and symptoms were not greater, with greater frequency of episodes, longer duration of these relationships, or the presence of penetration. On the other hand, the use of force and incestuous relations were related to more negative reactions and more symptoms.