Impact of Sexual Abuse on Religiosity: Implications for LongTerm Health

1
Impact of Sexual Abuse on Religiosity
Implications for Long-Term Health

• Kathleen Kendall-Tackett
• Family Research Lab
• University of New Hampshire

2
Why CSA Makes People Sick

• Health Psychology framework
• Five types of effects form a matrix of
  interrelationships that have a negative impact on
  health
• Physiological
• Behavioral
• Cognitive
• Social
• Emotional

3
What Religiosity Includes

• Beliefs about God
• Rules for behavior
• Social connections
• Hope
• Forgiveness
• Meaning in suffering
• Beliefs in ultimate justice

4
Impact of Sexual Abuse on Religiosity

• Large national sample (Finkelhor, Hotaling,
  Lewis, Smith, 1989)
• CSA survivors were significantly more likely to
  describe themselves as non-practitioners of
  religion than non-abused people

5
Study of Male Veterans (Lawson et al., 1998)

• CSA, PA, or EA all had a negative impact on
  religiosity (N1,207)
• CSA related to spiritual injury and less
  stability of spiritual behaviors
• All types related to more frequent prayer, and
  more spiritual experiences
• Overall small effect size of abuse on
  religiosity. The presence of abuse was more
  important than the type

6
Study of American Catholics (Rossetti, 1995)

• Compared three groups
• No CSA
• CSA by non-priest
• CSA by priest
• CSA by priest group had significantly less trust
  in the priesthood, the Church, and in their
  relationship with God than those who had not been
  sexually abused

7
Catholic and Protestant Clergy Abuse (McLaughlin,
1994)

• Clergy sexual abuse had a negative impact church
  attendance and participation
• Clergy abuse of children had a more negative
  effect than clergy abuse of adults, and severely
  impaired spirituality
• This effect was true for both Catholics and
  Protestants

8
Findings for Mormon Women (Pritt, 1998)

• Compared 115 sexually abused Mormon women with
  70 non-abused Mormon women
• The SA women had a significantly more negative
  concept of God, a lower sense of spiritual
  well-being, and were more pessimistic than the
  non-abused women

9
Religion and Health (McCullough et al., 2000)

• In a meta-analysis of 42 studies
• Religious involvement was significantly
  associated with lower mortality
• Those with high religious involvement lived
  longer than those with little or no involvement
• The effect size was small across studies (.10)

10
Teen Sexual Activity and Religion (Holder et al.,
2000)

• Teens who
• identified themselves as religious,
• reported that religion was important to them,
• and who felt a higher spiritual
  interconnectedness with friends
• Were less likely to participate in voluntary
  sexual activity

11
Less Depression in Religious Teens (Wright et
al.,1993)

• Teens who
• attended church regularly
• and viewed religion as having meaning in their
  lives
• Were less likely to be depressed and had
  significantly lower scores on the Beck Depression
  Inventory

12
Teen Health and Religion (Chandy et al.,1996a/b)

• In a sample of 1,011 female teens who had been
  sexually abused, a higher degree of religiosity
  protected them against the adverse effects of
  abuse
• Degree of religiosity and ability to discuss
  problems with friends and family both proved to
  be protective of health in another study of teens

13
Religious Attendance and Longevity (Strawbridge
et al., 2001)

• 30-year longitudinal study of adults in Alameda
  County
• Weekly religious attendance was related to better
  health because of
• less depression
• quitting smoking
• becoming physically active
• increasing the number of personal relationships
• and getting married

14
Religiosity and Longevity (Clark et al., 1999)

• Religious women in their early 40s had a 16
  lower risk of premature mortality than those who
  were less religious
• Healthier behaviors
• More positive about their futures
• Happier
• More involved in organizations
• Smoked and drank less

15
Faith in Elderly Patients (Oxman et al.,1996)

• Study of 232 elderly patients who had open-heart
  surgery
• Those who did not participate in a support group
  or did not have religious faith were three times
  more likely to die than those who participated in
  a group or had religious support

16
Unforgiveness and Health (Witvliet et al., 2001)

• Mental rehearsal of hurtful memories altered
  physiology
• Unforgiving thoughts prompted significantly
  higher corrugator (brow) EMG, skin conductance,
  and heart rate
• Elevations persisted even during recovery periods
• Forgiving thoughts prompted greater perceived
  control and lower physiological stress responses

17
Forgiveness and Health (Harris et al., 2001)

• Randomized trail with 259 community men and women
• Intervention taught forgiveness
• Treatment group had lower levels of stress, anger
  and somatization, and greater optimism
• May reduce the allostatic load on the immune
  system and cardiovascular functioning

18
Forgiveness can also help abuse survivors
(Freedman Enright, 1996)

• C-B forgiveness intervention
• Women in the forgiveness group
• Were able to forgive their abusers
• Had higher self-esteem and hope
• And had lowered depression and anxiety

19
Characteristics of Hope (Snyder et al., 1991)

• Hope is comprised of optimism, self-efficacy,
  perseverance, positive thinking, drawing strength
  from adversity, and humor
• Individuals high in hope are more likely to make
  positive appraisals, and to see situations as
  challenges rather than threats

20
Characteristics of Hopelessness (Snyder Brown,
1999)

• Low-hope people are low in self-efficacy
• They feel that they have very little chance of
  accomplishing their goals
• Low-hope people focus on their failures and have
  a negative affect while pursuing these goals

21
Hopelessness and Family Violence

• Hopelessness common in abuse survivors,
  particularly if abused by a parent or if abuse
  involved penetration (Silk et al, 1995)
• Teens who had been raped were low in hope
  (Choquet et al., 1997)
• And battered women who witnessed violence in the
  FOO also reported hopelessness (Sonnleitner et
  al.,1999)

22
Religion, Hope and Depression (Murphy et al.,
2000)

• Sample of 271 patients diagnosed with clinical
  depression, religious belief was associated with
  lower levels of hopelessness and depression
• Not true for religious behavior

23
Religion and Hope (Family Circle magazine survey)

• Survey conducted after the 9/11 terrorist attacks
  
• Religious people were
• more optimistic and hopeful about the future,
• more likely to believe that good triumphs over
  evil,
• that everything happens for a reason,
• and that love conquers all compared with people
  who were not religious

24
Survivors Search for Meaning (McMillen, Zuravin,
Rideout, 1995)

• CSA survivors reported some positive changes in
  themselves they experienced
• They were more sensitive to the needs of others,
  wanted to be better parents, and wanted to help
  others who have suffered similar experiences

25
Health Benefits of Meaning in Suffering (Bower et
al., 1998)

• Study of bereaved HIV-positive men
• The men who found meaning had less rapid declines
  in CD4 T cell levels, and lower rates of
  AIDS-related mortality
• Independent of health status at baseline, health
  behaviors, and other potential confounds

26
Negative Aspects of Religion for SA Women
(Bowman, 2000)

• Difficulties include
• institutionalized male dominance of women,
• male images of God,
• the valuing of silent, submissive females,
• churches lack of comfort with female anger,
• and encouragement of premature forgiveness of the
  abuser

27
Positive Aspects of Religion for SA Women
(Bowman, 2000)

• Advantages included
• social support,
• connection with a benevolent parent-God,
• rules to govern behavior,
• prohibitions against suicide,
• status as a child of God,
• existential meaning for suffering,
• and hope for justice