Cognitive assumptions and long-term distress in survivors of childhood abuse, parental alcoholism, and dysfunctional family environments

Covariance structure modeling was used to test unique contributions of childhood abuse, parental alcoholism, and dysfunctional family environment to symptom distress and to cognitive assumptions regarding a worthy self, benevolent world, meaningful world, and spiritual world in college students (N = 651). Abuse history was related to adult symptom distress, while a dysfunctional family environment was related to negative assumptions concerning the self and the benevolence of the world. When included in the model with abuse history, family environment, gender, and other characteristics of the family of origin, parental alcoholism did not appear to be causally related to symptom distress or to cognitive assumptions. Cognitive assumptions were initially presumed to be mediators of symptom distress. Sequential refinement of the model through specification procedures suggested that more negative self assumptions may be a result, rather than a mediator, of symptom distress. Other assumptions were not related to symptom distress in the model.