Citation

Browning CR. Soc. Sci. Res. 2002; 31(4): 473-510.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2002, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/S0049-089X(02)00019-4

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This research attempts to adjudicate between two competing models of the long-term effects of childhood sexual experiences on men. The psychogenic perspective conceptualizes adult-child sexual contact as a variably traumatic event producing a lingering emotional disturbance. Trauma leads to bidirectional behavioral responses with some withdrawing from sexual interaction and others engaging in heightened levels of sexual activity. The more severe the sexual contact, the more adverse the long-term effects. The life-course perspective suggests that childhood sexual contacts reinforce sexual activity, leading to risky behavior in adolescence and adulthood. The consequences of risky life paths accumulate to diminish long-term prospects. Analyses of the 1992 National Health and Social Life Survey offer little evidence of a tendency to avoid sexual activity in the aftermath of childhood sexual contact. Moreover, childhood sexual event severity was not associated with long-term well-being. Consistent with the life-course perspective, childhood sexual contacts (with both peers and adults) were associated with heightened levels of sexual activity. Trajectories established in the aftermath of early sex mediated part, but not all, of the effect of childhood sexual experiences on adult well-being and sexual adjustment.