Examining the Relationship Between Child Sexual Abuse, Self-Compassion, and Self-Objectification.

A great deal of research has looked at the impacts of child sexual abuse (CSA) on aspects of mental health such as substance abuse, eating disorders, and sexual dysfunction. There is also evidence that CSA may impact perceptions of self. Examples of perceptions of self are self-compassion, or an unconditional positive regard for the self despite difficult times (Neff, 2007) and sexual objectification, or the emphasis on one's body as being the most important part of the self (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997). Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore the potential relationships between CSA, selfcompassion, and self-objectification. We hypothesize that experiencing sexual abuse as a child will be linked to reduced levels of self-compassion. Additionally, we predict that self-objectification will mediate the relationship between CSA and self-compassion levels. We hope to recruit at least 250 participants, undergraduate students as well as a community sample from sexual assault organizations in Southern California. An on-line survey will be used to collect data, integrating questions taken from the Child Sexual Abuse Questionnaire, the Self-Compassion scale, and the Self-Objectification scale, which are validated measures of each variable. We are hopeful that results will reflect our hypothesis that CSA will be correlated with low levels of self-compassion via the mediation of self-objectification.