Thakkar R R, McCanne T R
Department of Psychology, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb 60115, USA.
Child Abuse Negl. 2000 Feb;24(2):209-21. doi: 10.1016/s0145-2134(99)00129-5.
The primary purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between daily stressors and physical symptoms in college-age women with a childhood history of sexual abuse and women without a history of childhood sexual abuse. It was hypothesized that women with a history of childhood sexual abuse would be particularly susceptible to the effects of daily stressors on physical symptoms, and would show more covariation between daily stressors and physical symptoms, compared to women without a history of childhood sexual abuse.
Female college students (n = 491) were screened for histories of childhood (before age 15) and adulthood (after age 15) contact sexual abuse. Of these participants, 18 women with only a history of childhood sexual abuse were assigned to the SA group, and 27 women with no history of childhood or adulthood sexual abuse were assigned to the NA group. These women filled out self-report measures of daily hassles and physical symptoms for 28 consecutive days.
During the 5 days preceding a highly stressful day, women in the SA group reported significantly more physical symptoms than during the 5 days preceding a day of low stress. For the NA group, there were no significant differences in reported physical symptoms between high- and low-stress days.
The pattern of results for physical symptoms suggests that women with a history of childhood sexual abuse may be particularly susceptible to the effects of heightened daily stress, and may display this susceptibility in the report of physical symptoms. Possible explanations for these findings are discussed.
本研究的主要目的是探讨有儿童期性虐待史的大学适龄女性与无儿童期性虐待史的女性的日常压力源与身体症状之间的关系。研究假设，与无儿童期性虐待史的女性相比，有儿童期性虐待史的女性会特别容易受到日常压力源对身体症状的影响，并且在日常压力源与身体症状之间会表现出更多的共变关系。
对491名女大学生进行儿童期（15岁之前）和成年期（15岁之后）接触性虐待史的筛查。在这些参与者中，18名只有儿童期性虐待史的女性被分配到性虐待组，27名无儿童期或成年期性虐待史的女性被分配到非性虐待组。这些女性连续28天填写日常烦恼和身体症状的自我报告量表。
在压力极大的一天之前的5天里，性虐待组女性报告的身体症状明显多于压力小的一天之前的5天。对于非性虐待组，压力大的日子和压力小的日子报告的身体症状没有显著差异。
身体症状的结果模式表明，有儿童期性虐待史的女性可能特别容易受到日常压力增加的影响，并且可能在身体症状报告中表现出这种易感性。讨论了这些发现的可能解释。
