1. Objectifs

Intentions :
«This study aims to fill the gap in the literature in regard to emotion regulation and social adaptation of child victims of CSA in the school context. […] The objectives of this study are to […] examine child victims of CSA’s emotion regulation competencies and social adaptation at school in comparison to nonvictims, relying on teachers as informants [and to] examine the role of emotion regulation in the relationship between CSA and children’s social adaptation in a school setting.» (p. 1080)

Questions/Hypothèses :
«[The authors’] hypotheses are that […] child victims of CSA will display less emotion regulation competencies and more social difficulties at school than children from the comparison group [and that] emotion regulation competencies will mediate the relationship between a history of CSA and social difficulties at school.» (p. 1080)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
«Data from this study came from a larger study investigating the developmental trajectories of sexually abused children. A comparison group of nonabused children was recruited to investigate the specific contribution of CSA. […] The CSA group (89.4% Caucasian) comprised 283 children (66.1% girls), between the ages of 6 and 12 [...].» (p. 1080) «The comparison (81.7% Caucasian) group comprised 60 children aged 6 to 12 years [...] who were recruited in elementary schools in the Greater Montreal area.» (p. 1081)

Instruments :
Questionnaires

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse statistique

3. Résumé

Regarding the first objective of this study, results show that «teachers rated child victims as being less socially adjusted than their nonabused peers and CSA children were more likely to reach the clinical level of social problems and withdrawal difficulties. […] The results also revealed that child victims showed less emotion regulation competencies than their peers. This extends the findings of the studies conducted with preschool victims of CSA [...], and highlight that sexual trauma impedes on the child’s capacity to effectively manage and respond to emotional experiences.» (p. 1084) Regarding the second objective, «[e]motion regulation competencies were found to mediate the relationship between CSA and both social problems and withdrawal symptoms. In other terms, experiencing CSA predicted lower emotion regulation competencies which in turn predicted higher withdrawal and more social problems.» (p. 1084-1085) Finally, «[t]he current study extends the scholarly literature, as the impact of the trauma that represents CSA, whether it is perpetrated by a family member or not, was examined. Thus, the current study suggests that even CSA that occur outside of the familial cell can impact the child’s emotional development.» (p. 1085)