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Post-Traumatic Stress in Sexually Abused, Physically Abused, and Nonabused Children
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Post-Traumatic Stress in Sexually Abused, Physically Abused, and Nonabused Children

Esther Deblinger, Susan McLeer, Marc Atkins, Diana Ralphe and Edna Foa
Child abuse & neglect, v 13(3), pp 403-408
01 Jan 1989
PMID: 2776048

Abstract

Child Abuse Child Sexual Abuse Children Coping Mental Patients Psychological Stress
A comparative investigation of the rates of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms across sexually abused, physically abused, & nonabused psychiatrically hospitalized children (N = 29 each) matched for age, sex, & socioeconomic status. Among the sexually abused children, 20.7% met diagnostic criteria for PTSD, compared with 6.9% of the physically abused & 10.3% of the nonabused children. Although these overall rates were not significantly different across groups, they were sufficiently high to reinforce the need for further study of PTSD in childhood. Further, significant symptom rate differences across groups were found with respect to specific PTSD symptoms. Specifically, sexually abused children exhibited significantly higher rates of inappropriate sexual behaviors than either the physically abused or nonabused children. In addition, both the sexually abused & physically abused groups tended to exhibit more avoidant/dissociative symptoms as compared to the nonabused children. Results are discussed in terms of their clinical & research implications. 2 Tables, 20 References. Modified HA

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Web of Science research areas
Family Studies
Psychology, Social
Social Work
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