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This study examined the relationship between self-reported childhood physical and sexual abuse, romantic relationship quality, possible gender differences, and clinical implications. Three hundred thirty-eight women and 296 men who sought services at a university mental health clinic in the northeast region of the United States completed a 30-minute self-report assessment questionnaire before their first therapy session. Among the items in the questionnaire were measures of childhood physical and sexual abuse, relationship stability, problem areas in the relationship, and other demographic information. Results from structural equation modeling indicated that childhood physical abuse influenced relationship quality for both men and women whereas childhood sexual abuse did not have a significant impact on relationship quality for either gender. The results of the study indicated that there may be more gender similarities than differences in experiences of childhood abuse and relationship quality than previous research has shown.
Key Words: child abuse, marital quality, physical abuse, sexual abuse.
The National Incidence Study IV (Sedlak et al., 2010) reported that an estimated 323,000 children were physically abused and 135,300 children were sexually abused between 2005 and 2006. Over the past few decades, numerous studies have been conducted on both the short-term and long-term negative effects that child abuse can have on the victim (Alpher & France, 1993; Braver, Bumberry, Green, & Rawson, 1992; Futa, Nash, Hansen, & Garbin, 2003; Springer, Sheridan, Kuo, & Cames, 2007). Most studies, however, have focused on the potential that the victim has for becoming a perpetrator as an adult (Wilcox, Richards, & O'Keeffe, 2004), for entering abusive romantic relationships (Griffing et al., 2005; Van Benschoten, 1995), or for abusing their own children (Hall, Sachs, & Rayens, 1998; Lawson, 2001).
Within the existing research, multiple studies examined the relationship between childhood abuse and sexual satisfaction in marriage (Finkelhor, Hotaling, Lewis, & Smith, 1989; Leonard, Iverson, & Follette, 2008; Loeb et al., 2002), but few have examined the relationship between childhood abuse and the overall quality of the adult's committed romantic relationships (Alpert, Brown, & Courtois, 1998; Finkelhor et al., 1989). Additionally, few studies have focused on how gender impacts those long-term effects. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the frequency of childhood physical and sexual abuse and relationship quality, with...