Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Dissociation, and Neuropsychological Performance in Latina Victims of Childhood Sexual Abuse

Abstract

This study compared the memory, attention/concentration, and executive functioning of 12 women with histories of child sexual abuse with a control group of 12 women without childhood abuse. Participants completed a neuropsychological test battery and various instruments assessing post-traumatic stress disorder and dissociation. The child sexual abuse group had lower performance than the control group on long- and short-term visual and verbal memory and presented more limited performance on executive functioning tasks. Functioning in these areas showed a negative correlation with post-traumatic stress disorder and dissociative symptoms. These findings suggest that child sexual abuse is associated with memory and executive functioning deficits and supports the idea that people with trauma histories and increased post-traumatic stress disorder and dissociation symptoms may have alterations in neuropsychological functioning.

Keywords:

• child sexual abuse
• females
• memory
• attention
• executive functions
• dissociation
• post-traumatic stress disorder
• PTSD

Acknowledgments

This article was developed from a doctoral dissertation for Carlos Albizu University.