This paper discusses the differences individuals face when experienced physical abuse versus sexual abuse.

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Differences in physical and sexual abuse
Karlie Harding
HDFS 2300 Science of Studying Human Development
Jennifer George
December 6, 2019

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Introduction
Physical and Sexual abuse has always been a sensitive subject for America. These two
abuses can occur at any age and by any gender. Both forms of abuse can also occur once or
multiple times. Whether the abuse happens early or later in life, the abuse affects people forever.
Disorders and certain diseases come with being abused and often times these can’t be fixed once
they are developed. I chose to review this topic because although I was not abused I do know
people that have been and wanted to learn more about the lasting impacts it has on people. For
this paper, I am discussing the different types of disorders and diseases that come from being
abused while also looking at the gender and age difference outcomes.
I researched 10 articles to help me conduct a review on my topic of study. I only wrote
about 8 of these 10 because I feel like these 8 gave me enough information to describe all of the
topics I needed. These 8 articles will help readers to understand the key differences in the
outcomes that individuals who have been physically or sexually abused encounter throughout
their lifetime. These outcomes vary based on gender while also producing different disorders
according to which abuse the individual experienced.
Gender Differences
Differences in gender occur in all aspects of abuse. Differences occur with which
disorders each face, who is usually the perpetrator, and the particular abuse they face. Sexual
abuse has different effects on both females and males. Researchers have found that females and
males are each diagnosed with different disorders after encountering sexual abuse. Cutajar,
Mullen, Ogloff, Thomas, Wells, & Spataro (2010) found that females usually develop PTSD,
borderline personality disorder, or an affective disorder. Males develop antisocial personality
disorder along with other disorders (Cutajar, et al., 2010). An article written by Damashek,

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Nelson, and Bonner (2013) noted that perpetrators were more likely women when it was a
neglect-related abuse. Men are more likely to be the perpetrators in relation to physical abuse.
(Damashek, et al., 2013). It has been researched that males and females experience more of one
abuse over the other. They each face either physical or sexual abuse more. Thompson, Kingree,
and Sujata (2004) found that females encounter child abuse more often than males also allowing
for more mental health problems for females. No differences were found in whether this child
abuse led to alcohol or substance abuse in either gender (Thompson, et al., 2004). All abuse has
its differences when it comes to both genders which makes research on this topic continuous.
Outcomes after abuse
After the abuse occurs many people are unable to sleep especially when this abuse occurs
at a young age. Steine, Krystal, Nordhus, Bjorvatn, Harvey, Eid, … Pallesen (2011) did a study
that included the nightmares and dreams that occurs in survivors. When nightmares are prevalent
this makes people not want to go to sleep which leads to insomnia. Insomnia allows for more
problems to occur such as alcohol abuse and revictimization (Steine et al., 2011). Although, there
are differences between genders when it comes to the abuse it is seen to have a bad health
outcome no matter the gender. Springer, Sheridan, Kuo, & Carnes (2007) found relationships
between people who experienced childhood abuse lead to drinking, smoking, and obesity
problems along with many more (Springer et al., 2007). This shows abuse in childhood not only
effects a person at a young age, but also carries on to effect people in later stages of life.
Therefore, not only does an abuser scar someone one time, but for a lifetime.
Differences between physical and sexual abuse
Although physical and sexual abuse are both forms of abuse, they each lead to different
feelings for an individual who encounters each. Sexual abuse is the act of performing sexual

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activities upon another person who is not consenting to it. Child abuse is an act of a parent
inflicting physical pain upon their child to harm them by physical pain such as hitting. Foster and
Hagedorn (2014) wrote an article discussing the effects sexual abuse has on a human being. This
study focused on talking to sexually abused victims first-hand to discuss their feelings from
being sexually abused in childhood. Reoccurrence of fear and not feeling safe were mentioned
by most of the abused. Fear that no one would believe them if they said they were being sexually
abused and fear of people thinking they caused the abuse on themselves. Fear was more of a
common theme than safety was, but safety was still mentioned many times during their
interviews with the abused. The abused felt unsafe because they were unaware if the abuse
would reoccur later. Often the abused would have to testify in court about the experience. This
led to children being scared about seeing their perpetrator again (Foster and Hagedorn, 2014).
Fear and safety are such a big part of what these children will constantly face every day after the
abuse. They will face fear when it comes to new relationships and whether they will be safe in
the hands of another person again. Childhood physical abuse has different effects on children.
Swogger, You, Cashman-Brown, & Conner (2011) publishes an article on how childhood
physical abuse leads to suicidal struggles. It was found that the children who were physically
abused would produce aggression in themselves. Therefore, the aggression developed in the
abused may be a reason why these victims had suicidal thoughts. More research is being
performed to find out which type of aggression leads to these suicidal attempts (Swogger et al.,
2011).
Consistency in physical and sexual abuse reports
A big thing when it comes to any form of abuse is how well the victim remembers the
trauma. Stories allow for parents, courts, and police to know what is going on in these types of

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situations. Ghetti, Goodman, Eisen, Qin, & Davis (2002) did a study interviewing children from
both abuses revealing which gender and abuse were more consistent in their stories and why they
believe this to be true. It was found that older children were able to report the abuse more clearly
and sexual abuse was more persistent than physical abuse in children. The results were found
that sexual abuse was easier to remember. Although younger children were considered less
consistent this does not mean they were lying about what happened, but rather remembered
something else about the occurrence the next time they were asked about the situation. It was
also found that physical abuse was less consistent because children had more traumatic
experiences with this type of abuse (Ghetti et al., 2002). This leads me to believe that physical
abuse may lead to less consistency because some children are thought to believe that some acts
of hitting are just a sign of discipline and to ensure that the child does not misbehave again.
Summary
When researching the different types of effects physical and sexual abuse brings to the
abused I discovered how much of an impact this has on the individual for as long as they live.
Females face disorders such as PTSD and borderline personality disorder while males face
antisocial personality disorder after being sexually abused by someone. Men are more likely the
perpetrator when it comes to physical abuse and females are the perpetrator when it is neglect-
related abuse. The abused are constantly fearful and worried about their safety throughout their
life. These types of abuse can lead to health problems such as drinking, insomnia, weight gain.
Both abuses can also lead people to have suicidal thoughts and aggressive behavior which is hard
to work through. If all these are not bad enough oftentimes these abuses go unreported, therefore
it is hard for people to create research and answer questions on the type of effects these abuses
have on people. Therefore, I believe that creating an open relationship with your children and

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educating them about what’s right and wrong will allow this abuse to become less of an issue. If
society can educate the public and get these findings more widespread hopefully less instances
like this will occur. With this literature review I hope more knowledge will be provided that
gives insight on what these abused people face on a daily basis and how much research needs to
be done so if something like this occurs we will eventually know how to treat it.

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References
Cutajar, M., Mullen, P., Ogloff, J., Thomas, S., Wells, D., & Spataro, J. (2010). Psychopathology
in a large cohort of sexually abused children followed up to 43 years. Child Abuse &
Neglect, 34(11), 813-822. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2010.04.004
Damashek, A., Nelson, M., & Bonner, B., (2013). Fatal child maltreatment: Characteristics of
deaths from physical abuse versus neglect. Child Abuse & Neglect, 37(10), 735–744. doi:
10.1016/j.chiabu.2013.04.014
Foster, J., & Hagedorn, W. (2014). A qualitative exploration of fear and safety with child victims
of sexual abuse. Journal of Mental Health Counseling, 36(3), 243-262. doi:
10.17744/mehc.36.3.0160307501879217
Ghetti, S., Goodman, G., Eisen, M., Qin, J., & Davis, S. (2002). Consistency in children’s reports
of sexual and physical abuse. Child Abuse & Neglect, 26(9), 977–995. doi:
10.1016/s0145-2134(02)00367-8
Steine, I., Krystal, J., Nordhus I., Bjorvatn, B., Harvey, A., Eid, J., … Pallesen, S. (2011).
Insomnia, nightmare frequency, and nightmare distress in victims of sexual abuse: The
role of perceived social support and abuse characteristics. Journal of Interpersonal
Violence, 27(9), 1827-1843. doi: 10.1177/0886260511430385
Springer, K., Sheridan, J., Kuo, D., & Carnes, M. (2007). Long-term physical and mental health
consequences of childhood physical abuse: Results from a large population-based sample
of men and women. Child Abuse & Neglect, 31(5), 517–530. doi:
10.1016/j.chiabu.2007.01.003

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Swogger, M., You, S., Cashman-Brown, S., & Conner, K. (2011). Childhood physical abuse,
aggression, and suicide attempts among criminal offenders. Psychiatry Research, 185(3),
363–367. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2010.07.036
Thompson, M. P., Kingree, J. B., & Desai, S. (2004). Gender differences in long-term health
consequences of physical abuse of children: Data from a nationally representative
survey. American Journal of Public Health, 94(4), 599–604. doi: 10.2105/ajph.94.4.599