Abstract
M.A.
The purpose of this dissertation was to gain an in-depth understanding of the way in
which survivors of child sexual abuse perceive the abuse to have affected their
functioning as adults. Four adult women who were abused as children were interviewed
and their perceptions were recorded and analysed.
Child sexual abuse has a definite effect on the adult functioning of survivors. The
respondents all felt that the abuse had affected them deeply and they all agreed that it had
affected them in more or less the same areas of their lives. The differences that were
found were differences in severity. Some of the survivors were more deeply affected than
others. On the whole the literature study verifies the results found in this study. Most
literature agrees that the effects of child sexual abuse are carried into adulthood. Some
people may only have bad memories and may function completely normally while others
may become suicidal and not function at all as a result of the abuse. Whether the
survivors function normally or are completely unable to cope with life, the fact remains
that the effects of child sexual abuse are felt in adulthood to a greater or lesser degree.