Making Meaning of Traumatic Events: Youths' Strategies for Processing Childhood Sexual Abuse Are Associated with Psychosocial Adjustment

The need to make meaning of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) is common and often persists long after the abuse ends. Although believed to be essential for healthy recovery, there is a paucity of research on how youth process their CSA experiences. The current study identified individual differences in the ways youth process their CSA and examined associations with psychosocial adjustment. A sample of 108 youth with confirmed abuse histories enrolled in the study within 8 weeks of abuse discovery, when they were between 8 and 15 years old. Six years later, they participated in interviews about their CSA experiences, reactions, and perceived effects. Using a coding system developed for this study, youths' CSA narratives were reliably classified with one of three processing strategies: Constructive (13.9%), Absorbed (50%), or Avoidant (36.1%). Absorbed youth reported the highest levels of psychopathological symptoms, sexual problems, and abuse-specific stigmatization, whereas Constructive youth tended to report the fewest problems. Avoidant youth showed significantly more problems than Constructive youth in some but not all areas. Interventions that build healthy processing skills may promote positive recovery by providing tools for constructing adaptive meanings of the abuse, both in its immediate aftermath and over time.