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Child Sexual Abuse History and Feminine Gender-Role Identity

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Abstract

The association between child sexual abuse (CSA) and feminine gender-role identity was examined among 75 women with and 107 without a history of CSA. Undergraduates and hospital employees from a university in the Southern United States completed questionnaires on the internet. Three aspects of feminine identity were assessed, including how much participants identified with feminine versus masculine traits, endorsed stereotypes about women, and viewed themselves as meeting feminine self-standards. Participants with a history of CSA reported greater feminine self-discrepancy and endorsed more derogatory stereotypes about women than the comparison group. CSA was also linked to identifying with more feminine than masculine traits, but only among hospital employees. Results suggest that feminine identity is a meaningful construct to consider in the adjustment of CSA survivors.

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Acknowledgements

We are especially grateful to the women who contributed to this project as participants.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, 3720 Walnut Street, Solomon Lab Bldg., Philadelphia, PA, 19104-6241, USA

    Elizabeth D. Krause

  2. Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA

    Susan Roth

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  1. Elizabeth D. Krause
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  2. Susan Roth
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Correspondence to Elizabeth D. Krause.

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Krause, E.D., Roth, S. Child Sexual Abuse History and Feminine Gender-Role Identity. Sex Roles 64, 32–42 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-010-9855-6

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