The Economic Consequences of Child Sexual Abuse for Adult Lesbian Women

This study is designed to extend the investigation of the long-term consequences of child sexual abuse (CSA) into the workplace and to consider the effects on the economic welfare of 1,925 lesbian women from the National Lesbian Health Care Survey. It seeks to develop a two-stage, least-squares model that considers simultaneously the effects of child sexual abuse on four spheres of a woman's life-her physical health, mental health, educational attainment, and economic welfare; and to investigate the differential impacts of diverse forms of child sexual abuse on the adult woman's functioning. The CSA survivors experienced adverse health and mental health consequences. The type of CSA experienced was also a significant predictor of a woman's educational attainment and annual earnings. Key Words: child sexual abuse, lesbians, women's economic welfare, women's health, women's mental health. During the past two decades, our society has considered several central issues in the lives of women. One of these issues is the greater role women have assumed in the United States' work force. In 1992, nearly 70% of American women worked outside the home. Women will constitute nearly two-thirds of the new entrants into the U.S. labor market during the years 1986-2000. And, in 1989, one of every five families was headed by a woman (Rix, 1990). These trends indicate that economic welfare and work-related considerations are important issues in the lives of women. Also during the past two decades, the social problem of child sexual abuse (CSA) and its longterm consequences has captured public attention. Many researchers have examined the psychological consequences of child sexual abuse for women (e.g., Briere & Runtz, 1993; Peters, 1988; Stein, Golding, Siegel, Burnam, & Sorenson, 1988) as well as the health consequences (Drossman et al., 1990; Haber & Roos, 1985; HarropGriffiths et al., 1988; Zierler et al., 1991). But researchers have not yet explored the effects of child sexual abuse on a woman's functioning in the world of work. The investigation of the possible economic consequences of child sexual abuse draws on the literature regarding the study of the consequences of violence in families as well as the study of the intersections of women's physical health, mental health, and economic welfare. The intent of this paper is to consider the linkage between these two factors-CSA and its impact on lesbian women's earning potentialthrough the development of a two-stage, leastsquares model designed to calculate the total of the direct and indirect effects of CSA on the annual earnings of women. Researchers in several fields have demonstrated that an individual's well-being consists of multiple features, such as her functioning in the workplace, her psychological well-being, her family relationships, and her health, and that these features are highly correlated (Barnett & Marshall, 1991; Kessler, Turner, & House, 1989; Verbrugge, 1993; Voydanoff, 1990). Life satisfaction and well-being are, to some degree, dependent on the individual's belief that her resources are adequate to her needs (Antonovsky, 1987; Benham & Benham, 1981). Access to health and mental health supports is often determined by income and occupational status (Anson & Anson, 1987). The ability to work is often affected by health or mental health limitations (Barnett & Marshall, 1991; Chirikos & Nestel 1985; Hartmann, Kuriansky, & Owens, 1996; Waldron, 1980). Women who work outside the home may derive health and satisfaction from increased social contacts and opportunities for success (Verbrugge & Madans, 1985). These effects may differ by ethnicity and social class (Hartmann et al., 1996). Ill health and economic strains are often identified as factors in the disruption of interpersonal relationships (Barnett & Baruch, 1987; Larson, Wilson, & Beley, 1994; Voydanoff, 1990). Child sexual abuse may influence each point in a woman's advancement into the workplace, such as her decision about how much education to acquire, what occupation she chooses, or how many hours she works. …