| Prevalence estimates of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) place the occurrence of female victimization at around 20 percent nationwide. While not all of these sexual abuse survivors go on to experience psychopathology related to the abuse, those that do, suffer from a host of short- and long-term symptoms, particularly depression. Additionally, while disclosure of CSA is generally seen as beneficial, impediments exist which prevent disclosure, and when disclosure does take place, it may not be positively received. While impediments exist to positive disclosure outcomes, the current study investigated levels of healthy and pathological entitlement in addition to attribution of blame for the abuse as impacted by disclosure outcome. Forty-two (N = 42) adult female undergraduates, self-identified as having experienced CSA, were assessed on measures of entitlement, depression, disclosure outcome, and attribution of blame. Thirty-four (n = 34) respondents disclosed to at least one, and up to three individuals, with results indicating that positive response to disclosure is associated with lower levels of depression, higher levels of healthy entitlement, and less self-blaming attributions than those respondents who experienced more negative responses to disclosure. These findings validate the importance of a positive disclosure outcome in the reduction of long-term symptomology associated with CSA, as well as with the increase in higher levels of positive indicators for mental health, such as feelings of self-reliance, self-assurance, and decreased self-blame for the perpetration of CSA. These findings support the importance of efforts made by mental health professionals to facilitate the disclosure process and to assist in the reduction of symptomology associated with CSA. |
