Identifying as a ‘cancer victim’ has been linked to adverse psychosocial sequelae in individuals who have been diagnosed with cancer. Being a childhood sexual abuse (CSA) survivor may predispose individuals towards a “victim” identity in general. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of identifying as a ‘cancer victim’ among CSA survivors who were diagnosed with cancer as adults, and to explore psychological factors associated with identification as a cancer victim. 105 adults reporting both a history of CSA and of having been diagnosed with cancer as an adult were recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk. Variables assessed included CSA severity, abuse-related powerlessness, general mastery, and cancer victim identity. Fifty-one percent of the sample endorsed a cancer victim identity. Path analysis revealed that abuse-related powerlessness was related to decreased feelings of general mastery, which was in turn associated with cancer victim identification (x2 = .12, DF = 1, p < .73; RMSEA = .00; SRMR = .01: Bentler CFI = 1.0). From a clinical perspective, the results suggest that increasing general mastery in CSA survivors in the cancer setting may be an important mechanism for attenuating the risk for developing a cancer victim identity and, presumably, for downstream adverse psychosocial sequelae.

中文翻译：

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具有癌症和儿童性虐待史的个体的癌症受害者身份

确定为“癌症受害者”与被诊断患有癌症的个体的不良心理社会后遗症有关。作为儿童性虐待 (CSA) 幸存者，一般而言，个体可能倾向于“受害者”身份。本研究的目的是确定成年后被诊断出患有癌症的 CSA 幸存者中被认定为“癌症受害者”的流行率，并探讨与被认定为癌症受害者相关的心理因素。通过 Amazon Mechanical Turk 招募了 105 名报告 CSA 病史和成年后被诊断出患有癌症的成年人。评估的变量包括 CSA 严重程度、与虐待相关的无力感、一般掌握情况和癌症受害者身份。51% 的样本认可了癌症受害者的身份。路径分析显示，与虐待相关的无力感与一般掌握感的降低有关，这反过来又与癌症受害者的识别有关（x2 = .12，DF = 1，p < .73；RMSEA = .00；SRMR = .01 ：本特勒 CFI = 1.0）。从临床角度来看，结果表明，在癌症环境中提高 CSA 幸存者的总体掌握程度可能是降低形成癌症受害者身份的风险的重要机制，并且可能是降低下游不良心理社会后遗症的风险。