5 D Self-Reported Reactions to and Effects From CSA

To examine further whether CSA is an equivalent experience for males and females, we compared the genders in terms of their self-reported reactions to and effects from CSA. If a basic property of CSA is that it is an equivalent experience for males and females, then it follows that correlates of this experience (e.g., self-perceptions of negativity and harmfulness) should be similar for men and women in the college population. These subjective self-reports were also useful for addressing the assumption that harmful effects are pervasive and intense in the population of persons with a history of CSA.

Retrospectively recalled immediate reactions.

Fifteen studies presented data on participants' retrospectively recalled immediate reactions to their CSA experiences that were classifiable as positive, neutral, or negative. Table 7 presents the reaction data separately for 10 female and 11 male samples. Some authors reported the number of participants who reported positive, neutral, or negative reactions; others reported the number of experiences reported to be positive, neutral, or negative. We

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therefore treated reports of numbers of participants as numbers of experiences (i.e., one participant equals one experience) so as to be able to combine results. Overall, 72% of female experiences, but only 33% of male experiences, were reported to have been negative at the time. On the other hand, 37% of male experiences, but only 11% of female experiences, were reported as positive. These overall percentages were obtained by weighting the percentages of each sample by their sample size (only samples in which all three reaction-types were reported were combined).

Table 7

Note.
Dashes indicate that participants of a given gender were not included in the study.
n/a indicates information not available.
Totals include only samples for which all 3 reaction-types are given. Total percents are weighted by sample size; total Ns reflect a combination of number of experiences and number of participants. Percentages do not sum exactly to 100 because of rounding.
a Includes mixed reactions.
b Indicates number of experiences. Otherwise, N indicates number of participants.

These results indicate that males and females did not react to CSA at the time it occurred in an equivalent manner. The partial results reported by Finkelhor (1979) and Fischer (1991) are consistent with the overall results. Also consistent with these results are those obtained by Haugaard and Emery (1989) , who reported mean retrospectively recalled immediate reactions based on a 7-point scale (1 = very positive; 7 = very negative ). The mean rating for men was 3.38, indicating a neutral to somewhat positive overall reaction, and the mean rating for women was 5.83, indicating an overall negative reaction. Aside from gender differences, the results show that reactions were highly variable, rather than being exclusively negative. Assuming that retrospectively recalled immediate reactions are associated with later adjustment - a relation that was found by Long and Jackson (1993) in their study using a college sample - these results imply that resulting harm is not prevalent, at least for men, in the college population.

Current reflections.

Seven female and three male samples contained reports of positive, neutral, and negative current reflections (i.e., current feelings) about CSA experiences. Results were similar to retrospectively recalled immediate reactions, with 59% of 514 female experiences being reported as negative compared with 26% of 118 male experiences. Conversely, 42% of current reflections of male experiences, but only 16% of female experiences, were reported as positive. In addition to these results, Haugaard and Emery (1989) reported mean current reflections based on a 7-point scale (1 = very positive; 7 = very negative ). The mean rating for men was 3.95, indicating neutral overall current reflections, and the mean rating for women was 5.82, indicating current reflections that were negative overall. These data further point to the nonequivalence of male and female CSA experiences and imply that harmful effects may not be prevalent.

Self-reported effects.

In eight studies, comprising 11 samples, participants were asked whether their CSA experiences had affected them. In some studies, effects pertained to participants' adult sex lives or their sexual attitudes ( Condy et al., 1987 ; Fishman, 1991 ; Fritz et al., 1981 ; Landis, 1956 ). In other studies, questions about effects covered more general topics, for example, amount of stress ( Fischer, 1991 ), effects on one's overall life ( Fishman, 1991 ), still feeling troubled ( Hrabowy, 1987 ), time to recover and damage to emotional development ( Landis, 1956 ), how long they were affected ( Nash & West, 1985 ), and lasting effects ( West & Woodhouse, 1993 ). Table 8 provides the results of participants' responses to these questions.

For men, self-reported negative effects on their current sex lives or attitudes were uncommon. In the five studies providing data regarding these perceived effects, rates of negative sexual effects ranged from 0.4% of participants to 16%, with an

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unweighted mean rate of 8.5%. For women, self-reported negative effects were also in the minority; only two samples provided relevant data, with rates of 2.2% and 24%, yielding an unweighted mean of 13.1%. One study ( Landis, 1956 ) also provided rates of temporary negative effects on sexual attitudes: 17% for men and 26% for women.

Table 8
Self-Reported Effects of Child Sexual Abuse Experiences on College Students

Note
m = male; f = female.
a Indicates number of experiences. Otherwise, N indicates number of subjects.

Self-reports of lasting negative effects of a general nature for men were also uncommon. About a quarter of male participants reported lasting negative effects in one study, but none reported lasting effects in the other two studies asking this question-in one of these latter studies ( West & Woodhouse, 1993 ), 1 or 2 participants reported lasting negative effects of a sexual, rather than general, nature. Landis (1956) reported that only a minority of his male participants perceived themselves to have been temporarily adversely affected. Fischer (1991) found that the mean amount of stress that men reported they felt now as a result of their CSA was low. Fischer found that her female participants who experienced CSA reported a somewhat higher mean but were still on the low end of the scale. In other female samples, Hrabowy (1987) found that only 5% of her participants reported currently being very troubled over their CSA experiences; another 20% reported being moderately troubled. Landis found that fewer than 1 in 20 of his female participants with CSA experiences reported that they never recovered or that they suffered permanent damage to their emotional development. Nash and West (1985) found that 1 in 5 of their CSA participants reported still being affected. Landis reported that about two thirds of his female CSA participants felt themselves to have been temporarily affected. Nash and West found that half of their CSA participants perceived themselves to have been affected for a little or no time, while another quarter were affected for a longer, but temporary, period of time.

The overall picture that emerges from these self-reports is that (a) the vast majority of both men and women reported no negative sexual effects from their CSA experiences; (b) lasting general negative effects were uncommon for men and somewhat more common for women, although still comprising only a minority; and (c) temporary negative effects were more common, reported by a minority of men and a minority to a majority of women. These data imply that, in the college population: (a) CSA affects males and females differently; (b) lasting negative effects are not prevalent; and (c) when negative effects occur, they are often temporary, implying that they are frequently not intense. These findings are inconsistent with the assumption that CSA has the properties of gender equivalence, prevalence, and intensity in terms of harmful effects.

Comparing male versus female reactions and self-reported effects via meta-analysis.

In three meta-analyses, we examined the size of sex differences in (a) retrospectively recalled immediate reactions, (b) current reflections, and (c) self-reported effects of CSA. Studies included in these analyses consisted of both male and female samples. In the case of Risin and Koss (1987) , who reported on male participants, and Wisniewski (1990) , who reported on female participants, all participants came from the same pool (a random sample of 32 U.S. colleges and universities, designed to be representative of the entire U.S. college population). In two other cases, we combined results from separate studies that used different samples. The first case was Fromuth (1986) and Fromuth and Burkhart (1989) , and the second case was Nash and West (1985) and West and Woodhouse (1993) . Combining appeared to make sense because the same principal researchers were responsible for each set of studies (Fromuth and West, respectively), and the samples were drawn from nearly the same geographic areas, although at different times. In most cases, comparisons were made between the proportion of men who reported negative reactions or effects and the corresponding proportion of women. In the case of Haugaard and Emery (1989) , comparisons were based on contrasting mean reaction ratings of men and women. Positive effect sizes indicated that women reported proportionately more negative reactions or effects, or had a higher mean negative response, than males. Table 9 presents the results of the meta-analyses.

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Table 9

Meta-Analyses for Male versus Female Reactions to
and reactions to Self-Reported Effects from Child Sexual Abuse in College Samples

Note
k represents the number of effect sizes for a given meta-analysis;
N is the total number of participants in a given meta-analysis;
r_u is the unbiased effect size estimate (positive r_u indicates more negative reactions pr effects for women;
H is the withi-group homogeneity statistic (chi square).
^a Reactions then refers to retrospectively recalled immediate reactions; reactions now refers to current reflexions.
* p < .05 in chi-square test.

In the case of retrospectively recalled immediate reactions, Risin and Koss (1987) and Wisniewski (1990) presented percentages of participants who responded to their CSA experiences with fear, guilt, anger, depression, or feelings of being victimized. Each item was measured on a 5-point scale whose values were 1 = not at all ; 2 = a little ; 3 = somewhat ; 4 = quite ; and 5 = very . We averaged the proportion of men and women across the 5 items who reported anything from "a little" to "very" to compare the proportions of each sex who made negative reports. The meta-analysis, based on 10 effect sizes that ranged from r = .21 to .52, yielded a medium unbiased effect size estimate, r _u= .31, in which women reported significantly more negative immediate reactions than men (indicated by the 95% confidence interval). The effect sizes were heterogeneous, however. The meta-analysis of current reflections, based on 3 effect sizes ranging from .24 to .38, also yielded a medium unbiased effect size estimate, r _u= .34, in which women's current reflections concerning their CSA experiences were significantly more negative than those of males (indicated by the 95% confidence interval). These effect sizes were homogeneous.

For the self-reported effects, effect sizes were derived as follows: contrasting 21% of men with no stress then or now with 7% of women for Fischer (1991) ; contrasting 10% of men with current sex problems reported to have resulted from the CSA with 24% of women ( Fritz et al., 1981 ); for Landis (1956) , averaging the effect sizes for self-reports of time to recover, damage to emotional development, and effects on sexual attitudes (in each case, proportions of men and women reporting any negative effects at all were contrasted); and for Nash and West (1985) and West and Woodhouse (1993) , the proportions of women and men reporting lasting negative effects were contrasted. The meta-analysis, consisting of four effect sizes ranging from r = .16 to .30, yielded a small to medium unbiased effect size estimate, r _u= .22, indicating that women reported significantly more negative effects than men (indicated by the 95% confidence interval). The effect sizes were homogeneous.

The results of these three meta-analyses imply that, in the college population, men and women with experiences classifiable as CSA feel very differently about them and perceive very different effects from them. The assumption that CSA is an equivalent experience for men and women in the population of persons who experience CSA is unsupported by these results.