Locus of Control and Adjustment in Female Adult Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse

A sample of 84 college women retrospectively reporting childhood sexual abuse (including 19 experiencing more severe abuse and 65 experiencing less severe abuse) and 285 women failing to report such a history participated in a study designed to investigate the relationship between victimization history and locus of control and the role of locus of control in predicting the adjustment of adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse. Analyses failed to detect differences in the locus of control of victims and nonvictims, and no relationship was found between a woman's perception of control over the victimization experience and her later locus of control. Results did reveal that locus of control and victimization status interacted in predicting women's symptom severity as well as problems such as depression, anxiety, and hostility. Women with a severe abuse history with an internal locus of control reported somewhat lower levels of distress than other women. Women with severe abuse and an external locus of control reported extremely elevated levels of distress, levels of distress greater than women in any other group. Implications of these results and recommendations for future research are discussed.