Master's Theses

Department

Psychology

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Abstract

Child abuse is very common in today’s society, and of great social concern. Reports indicate at least one in seven children have experienced child abuse or neglect in the past year in the United States. Further, in 2020, 1,750 children died of abuse and neglect in the United States alone. The number may be even higher since not every victim who died from abuse would have that indicated as the cause of death (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2022a). The purpose of the current study was to investigate the effects of physical and emotional child abuse on social functioning and help seeking behaviors in adulthood. 123 (28 male, 87 female) college students will be asked to complete The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire Short Form (CTQ-SF), The Social Functioning Scale (SFS), and the General Help-Seeking Questionnaire (GHSQ) to assess levels of emotional and physical child abuse, and social functioning and help seeking, respectively. The following results were found: (1) physical abuse did not significantly relate to social functioning, (2) emotional abuse did significantly relate to social functioning, with higher levels of abuse relating to lower levels of social function (3) physical abuse did not significantly relate to help seeking behavior, with higher levels of abuse relating to lower levels of help seeking behavior, (4) emotional abuse did significantly relate to help seeking behavior, with higher levels of abuse relating to lower levels of help seeking behavior, (5) emotional abuse did not relate to social functioning more strongly than physical abuse, no abuse, or both physical and emotional abuse, and (6) emotional abuse did not relate to help seeking behavior more strongly than physical abuse, no abuse, or both physical and emotional abuse. The study adds to previous research and fills gaps in the investigation of the effects of emotional child abuse in particular, which is not as well studied as physical abuse effects. This study can help us better understand the negative outcomes of childhood abuse in adulthood.

Keywords

CTQ-SF, GHSQ, SFS

Advisor

Dr. Carol Patrick

Date of Award

Spring 2024

Document Type

Thesis

Rights

© The Author(s)

Comments

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