Logo image
Psychiatric Disorders in Sexually Abused Children
Journal article

Psychiatric Disorders in Sexually Abused Children

SUSAN V. McLEER, MARIAN Callaghan, DELMINA Henry and JOANNE Wallen
Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, v 33(3), pp 313-319
1994
PMID: 8169175

Abstract

comorbidity post-traumatic stress disorder psychiatric disorders sex abuse
This study was designed to compare the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in a clinical sample of sexually abused children referred for outpatient evaluation. Two a priori hypotheses were tested: (1) the sexually abused group would have more post-traumatic stress disorder than the non-sexually abused group and (2) non-sexually abused children referred for evaluation would have more diagnoses than the sexually abused group. Twenty-six sexually abused children and 23 non-sexually abused children referred for psychiatric outpatient evaluation at a medical school center were matched by age, sex, race, and socioeconomic status and compared to determine differences in prevalence of Axis I, DSM-III-R disorders. The Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children-Epidemiologic Version was used for systematic diagnosis. Groups did not differ significantly in the number of diagnoses and, in both groups, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder was the most frequent diagnosis. However, the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder among sexually abused children was significantly greater ( p < .02), with 42.3% of sexually abused children and 8.7% of non-sexually abused children meeting full criteria. There were no significant differences between groups in other diagnostic categories. This study, using structured interviews and comparison groups, confirmed earlier findings suggesting that sexually abused children are at heightened risk for the development of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Metrics

12 Record Views
167 citations in Scopus

Details

UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This publication has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#3 Good Health and Well-Being
#5 Gender Equality

InCites Highlights

Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:

Web of Science research areas
Pediatrics
Psychiatry
Psychology, Developmental
Logo image