The long-term effects of contact and noncontact forms of child sexual abuse in a sample of university men.

The long-term effects of child sexual abuse were examined in a sample of 284 university men. After controlling for the effects of dysfunctional parenting behaviors, a history of abuse involving physical contact was found to be associated with elevated scores on all subscales of the Brief Symptom Inventory. The comparison involving noncontact forms of abuse produced no significant abuse related effects. These findings are discussed in terms of their implications for research, intervention, and social policy.