involve intergenerational effects, are discussed in the following paragraphs. However, a direct association between childhood sexual abuse and subsequent psychopathology is also likely. For example, three studies evaluated twin pairs where one twin had been abused and the other had not. In all three studies, the abused twin was found to be more likely to report a history of psychiatric disorders when assessed as an adult than was the nonabused twin (Dinwiddie et al. 2000; Kendler et al. 2000; Nelson et al. 2002). These findings suggest that childhood sexual abuse can be a causal factor for the development of psychiatric disorders.6
