ABSTRACT
Sexual abuse of children by family members is a common social problem which has only recently been recognized by the mental health professions. Several large-scale surveys of predominantly white, middle-class women indicate that about 10 percent of American women have had a childhood sexual experience with an older male relative, and at least 1 percent have had a sexual relationship with a father or stepfather (Finkelhor, 1979; Kinseyetal., 1953; Landis, 1956). Sexual abuse by a trusted family member, especially by a parent, is a major psychological trauma, which not only creates serious distress while the abuse is ongoing, but also frequently produces long-term sequelae for the victim in adult life. Problems most frequently identified in women with a history of incest include impaired self-esteem, negative identity formation, difficulty in intimate relationships, sexual dysfunction, and repeated victimization (Herman, 1981; Meiselman, 1978).
