Childhood Abuse, Perceived Social Support, and Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms: A Moderation Model

Abuse characteristics and perceived social support are well documented factors that affect abuse survivor outcomes, but the interaction between abuse type (i.e., child sexual abuse, child physical abuse) and social support (i.e., friend, family, and significant other support) is less understood. The current sample included 265 female survivors of childhood abuse (124 sexual abuse survivors, 141 physical abuse survivors) between the ages of 19-26 years. The findings suggest that perceived social support can be either a protective or risk factor when predicting posttraumatic stress symptoms depending on the type of abuse and social support. Greater perceived family and friend support appears to be a protective factor against the development of posttraumatic stress symptoms only in physical abuse survivors, and not in sexual abuse survivors. Conversely, perceived significant other support is a risk factor in sexual abuse survivors, whereas it is not related to posttraumatic stress symptoms in physical abuse survivors. The current study has important implications for understanding the complex picture of child abuse outcomes and explanations for the findings are provided.