Unveiling the impact: Childhood sexual abuse and dissociation among Lithuanian young adults

Abstract

Experiencing child sexual abuse (CSA) can be considered a traumatic experience. Many negative shortand long-term consequences are linked with CSA. Dissociative experiences are one such consequence. The goal of the present study was to investigate the differences in nonperitraumatic dissociative experiences in different types and circumstances of CSA. Method: The present study utilized a representative sample of Lithuanians aged 18–29 (N = 2,000). The frequency of dissociative experiences was investigated between groups of participants who experienced different types of CSA (contact, noncontact, and verbal) and different circumstances of abuse (age of onset, number of perpetrators, and instances of abuse). Results: Participants who indicated having experienced multiple types of CSA demonstrated a higher frequency of dissociative experiences compared to those with no indicated CSA or a single type of CSA. No significant differences were found between different types of CSA. Contrary to expectations, no significant differences were found based on age of onset, number of perpetrators, or number of CSA instances, even though their strength of relationship with dissociation differed. Notably, those unable to recall CSA experiences consistently reported a higher frequency of dissociative experiences. Conclusions: Taken together, our findings confirm that there is a difference in frequency of dissociative experiences between those who experienced CSA and those who did not. Findings of the present study would suggest that different types of CSA should not be joined into one, since there may be important differences between them.