Yes, many studies have assessed the possible link between childhood sexual abuse and subsequent psychiatric illness or symptoms. One problem, however, is that it is not always possible to establish with certainty that childhood sexual abuse actually occurred. Most clinicians agree that while a patient's story of abuse should never be discounted, neither should it be automatically taken as an absolutely accurate record of what happened.
Human memory is prone to elaboration and distortion over the years.
Conversely, the absence of a recollection of childhood abuse does not guarantee that no abuse took place.