Experience of Shame as a Predictor of Self-Esteem among Sexually Abused Adolescent Girls

Sexual abuse pains, frightens, and potentially traumatises children. Feelings of shame mediate a child's recovery from abuse and are associated with low self-esteem. Low self-esteem leads children to withdraw from social interactions. The aim of this study is to determine the relationship between the experience of shame and self-esteem of the sexually abused adolescent girls in Manila, Philippines. The study design was analytic correlation with cross-sectional approach. The experience of shame of the respondents was assessed by Experience of Shame Scale (ESS) and self-esteem was assessed by Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale (SES). The results of the study revealed that there is a significant relationship between the experience of shame and self-esteem of the sexually abused adolescent girls with p value (0.001) (r = -0.799). The present study examined the possible predictive effect of the experience of shame on the self-esteem. Higher the experience of shame leads to lower the self-esteem among the sexually abused adolescent girls.