Sexual Abuse Histories of Young Women in the U.S. Child Welfare System: A Focus on Trauma-Related Beliefs and Resilience

ABSTRACT

This research provides descriptive data regarding sexual abuse histories of high-functioning women (N = 84; 18–25 years old) previously in the child welfare system. Placement histories of foster youth who were sexually abused were distinct. Girls with a history of sexual abuse were more likely to have been in restrictive housing and changed placements twice as often as girls with no history of sexual abuse. Trauma-related beliefs (TRB) subsequent to sexual abuse varied depending upon where sexual abuse occurred. TRB scores were negatively correlated with resilience and positively correlated with number of sexual abusers. Powerlessness was found to make a significant contribution to resiliency scores above and beyond foster care and abuse demographics.

KEYWORDS:

• Sexual abuse
• foster care
• trauma-related beliefs
• power-lessness
• self-blame
• resilience