Impacts of child sexual abuse: The mediating role of future orientation on academic outcomes

Background: Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) has significant impacts on an individual's physical and mental well-being including substance use, depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, relationship issues, as well as sexual revictimization in adulthood. Positive future orientation is associated with higher educational outcomes and successful goal attainment, but CSA survivors have lower educational attainment and less employment opportunities leading to less financial security in adulthood.

Objective: Our study seeks to examine whether future orientation mediates the relationship between CSA and academic outcomes using data from the Kaplan Longitudinal and Multigenerational Study (KLAMS).

Participants & setting: KLAMS is a U.S. based panel study which captures information about the mental health, relationships, academic outcomes, and deviant behavior of two generations of family members at multiple points in time. In the present study, we use data from two separate interviews with the children (N = 2084) of the original respondents.

Methods: We estimated a series of regressions using generalized structural equation modeling to examine the relationship between child sexual abuse, future orientation, and three different types of academic outcomes.

Results: Youth who experienced sexual abuse had lower grades in school, were more likely to drop out, and had lower levels of education than children with no history of sexual abuse. Negative future orientation mediated the relationship between child sexual abuse and all three outcomes.

Conclusions: In support of existing research, we found child sexual abuse has a negative impact on positive future orientation, and positive future orientation contributes to better academic outcomes.