Exploring the nature of the relationship between child sexual abuse and substance use among women.

AIMS: This study investigated whether child abuse (CSA) was associated with earlier substance use and greater severity of substance dependence and what aspects of CSA might predict substance abuse.

DESIGN

The study compared (a) drug and alcohol treatment clients with and without a history of CSA and (b) CSA survivors outside drug and alcohol treatment who did or did not have current substance abuse.

SETTINGS: Semi-structured interviews took place at participants' homes, treatment agencies or the research centre.

PARTICIPANTS

Volunteer participants included 100 women recruited from drug and alcohol treatment programmes and 80 CSA survivors recruited through CSA counseling services and medial advertising.

MEASUREMENTS: The results focus on data from the Opiate Treatment Index, Severity of Alcohol Dependence Questionnaire, Substance Dependence Scale, Self-Esteem Inventory and self-reported histories of CSA.

FINDINGS: There were no differences between CSA survivors and other drug and alcohol treatment clients in their severity of dependence. Women with a history of CSA more frequently identified stimulants as their main problem drug and reported an earlier age of first intoxication and earlier use of inhalants. Among abused CSA survivors outside drug and alcohol treatment, women with current substance abuse had typically been abused during adolescence by someone outside the family, whereas those without current substance abuse were typically abused by family members before adolescence.

CONCLUSIONS

The results suggest that adolescence is a crucial time for the influence of CSA experiences on substance abuse.