Attributions of blame and responsibility for child sexual abuse and adult adjustment

Both clinical and empirical work suggest that attributions of responsibility and blame for child sexual abuse may be important determinants of subsequent adjustment Measurement of the attributions has been problematic, however and has hindered the conclusions that can be drawn. In this study, measures were developed that assess three types of attributions-self-blame, family blame, and perpetrator blame. The examination of the relationships between attributions and adjustment in a study of 154 adult women sexually abused as children found that both self-blame and family blame were related to some indicators of poor adjustment In addition, there was a three-way interaction among blame types and one indicator of adjustment. These results suggest that the relationships between attributions and adjustment may be more complex than previously indicated.