EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CHILDHOOD SEXUAL ABUSE AND QUALITY OF LIFE OF ADULT SURVIVORS

Nur Adilah Md Nasser, Pamilia Lourdunathan Andrew

Abstract


Objectives: This paper focuses on exploring whether resilience serves as a buffer between experience of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and quality of life (QoL) among adult survivors in Malaysia.

Method: This cross-sectional study consists of 69 Malaysian respondents who had experienced CSA prior to age 18 and their experience, resilience and quality of life was assessed using CSAQ consisting of three domains, CD-RISC and WHOQoL-BREF consisting of four domains.

Procedure: Data collection was done using snowballing method via social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tinder, and LinkedIn. All participants who met the criteria were provided with a link to a Google Form containing informed consent and four self-report questionnaire measuring severity of abuse, child sexual abuse questionnaire (CSAQ), Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) and WHO Quality of Life (WHOQOL-BREF).  

Analyses: IBM SPSS 26.0 and Hayes's PROCESS macro version 4.1 was utilised to conduct moderation analysis. Each domain of WHOQoL-BREF was measured as dependent variables.

Findings: The results shows that resilience does not moderate between CSA without physical touch, CSA with penetration and CSA without penetration, and all four domains of WHOQoL-BREF, except CSA with penetration and social relationship (R2= 0.26, F (3, 64) = 7.40, p< .001, b= 0.04, 95% CI [0.00, 0.08], t= 2.04, p< 0.1).

Significance: This research allowed us to understand that although resilience does not moderate between various type of CSA and domains of quality of life, when resilience moderate between adult survivors of CSA who experienced penetration and facing interpersonal issues, it can improve their quality of life. Thus, this provides an idea that increasing resiliency skills may assist adult survivors in improving their social relationship.


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References


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