Abstract
This study investigated the effects of childhood sexual abuse and parental alcoholism in a sample of university women. Current symptoms of anxiety and depression were measured together with retrospective reports of subjects' families of origin. Using a 2X2 factorial design, main effects on symptoms were obtained for sexual abuse and parental alcoholism, but their interaction was not significant. With respect to family environment, a history of sexual abuse was associated with perceptions that families of origin had less cohesion, more conflict, less emphasis on moral-religious matters, less emphasis on achievement, and less of an orientation towards intellectual, cultural, and recreational pursuits. Similarly, subjects who had alcoholic parents reported less family cohesion, more conflict, and less emphasis on moral-religious matters. Results of analyses of co variance suggested that family environment was a mediator of current symptoms of anxiety, but not symptoms of depression.