Dissociation and Sexual Abuse: A Stuy of 95 Students

The current study investigated the connection between dissociative behaviors and childhood sexual abuse and adult sexual abuse. Dissociative behaviors were measured using the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES; Putnam and Bernstein, 1985). Although research drawing a connection between such dissociative disorders as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Multiple Personality Disorder are cited, this study fails to find any significant correlation between DES scores of subjects and histories of sexual abuse. The investigator continues on to discuss alternative explanations for the discrepancy between this study and the findings of those studies cited.