Psychological symptoms of adolescent survivors of sexual abuse and characteristics of survivors displaying suicidal and/or self-harming behaviors

Koçtürk N.

HEALTH CARE FOR WOMEN INTERNATIONAL, cilt.44, sa.9, ss.1136-1154, 2023 (SSCI) identifier identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 44 Sayı: 9
  • Basım Tarihi: 2023
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1080/07399332.2021.2021204
  • Dergi Adı: HEALTH CARE FOR WOMEN INTERNATIONAL
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, International Bibliography of Social Sciences, Abstracts in Social Gerontology, CAB Abstracts, CINAHL, Educational research abstracts (ERA), EMBASE, Gender Studies Database, MEDLINE, PAIS International, Psycinfo, Public Affairs Index, Social services abstracts, Sociological abstracts
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.1136-1154
  • Hacettepe Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

We examine the psychological symptoms and suicide attempts and/or self-injury behaviors of survivors of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) according to individual and familial characteristics. The participants of this study included 80 adolescents aged 14-17 years. We show that high psychological symptom scores may indicate that the perpetrator was a family member and that penetration occurred. In addition, most of the participating survivors have experienced numerous problems, largely related to psychological symptoms. Considering the results regarding survivors who had previously attempted suicide, we demonstrate that the perpetrators in these cases were mostly reliable/loved people, while these survivors generally hid the events and were exposed to penetration more often. We conclude that survivors exposed to CSA by a reliable/loved person, blaming themselves, having low social support, and displaying certain symptoms should be followed closely and necessary psychosocial interventions for suicide should be applied.