Psychological Wellbeing and Assertiveness among Adolescent Girls with Sexual Abuse Elizabeth Dhanya P1,*, Kumar S Vinod2 1Research scholar, School of Behavioural Sciences, Kannur University, Kannur, Kerala, India 2Assistant Professor, School of Behavioural Sciences, Kannur University, Kannur, Kerala, India *Corresponding Author: Dhanya P Elizabeth, Email: dhyanelizabeth@gmail.com
Online published on 24 February, 2020. Abstract Child sexual abuse (CSA) is associated with burden of deleterious psychological and behavioural outcomes. There are extensive studies available; however, limited empirical finding of child sexual abuse have been carried out in Indian context. The present study aimed to investigate the implications of sexual abuse on psychological wellbeing and assertiveness of adolescent girls in Kasaragod district of Kerala, India. 250 adolescent girls studying in regular government higher secondary school within the age group of 15 to 18 years were selected as the focused group. Among the 250 selected participants, 43 were sexually abused. Ex post facto research design was used for the study. Assertiveness scale, psychological wellbeing scale and sexual abuse inventory for adolescence were the measures used in the present study. Results were analyzed using Pearson product moment correlation and independent sample t-test. The findings revealed that, sexual abuse in childhood and assertiveness and psychological wellbeing in adolescence are not correlated. Psychological wellbeing and assertiveness of sexually abused girls are also not correlated. The psychological wellbeing and assertiveness of sexually normal adolescent girls were positively correlated. Further, the psychological wellbeing and assertiveness of sexually abused girls is significantly lower than that of sexually normal girls. Thus, the present study suggested that sexual abuse cultivates a negative impact on psychological wellbeing and assertiveness among adolescent girls. Top Keywords Child Sexual Abuse, Assertiveness, Psychological Wellbeing, Adolescence, Higher Secondary School. Top |