U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

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

NCJ Number
119533
Journal
Child Abuse and Neglect Volume: 13 Issue: 3 Dated: (1989) Pages: 403-408
Author(s)
E Deblinger; S McLeer; M Atkins; D Ralphe; E Foa
Date Published
1989
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This investigation compared the rates of post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms in sexually abused, physically abused, and nonabused psychiatrically hospitalized children matched by age, sex, and socioeconomic status.
Abstract
Of the sexually abused children, 20.7 percent met diagnostic criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder compared to 6.9 percent of the physically abused and 10.3 percent of the nonabused children. These rates were not significantly different across the three groups, however, they were significantly high to suggest the need for more extensive study of post-traumatic stress during childhood. Significant symptom rate differences across groups were found with respect to specific post-traumatic stress symptoms. Sexually abused children exhibited significantly higher rates of inappropriate sexual behaviors than either the physically abused or nonabused children. Also, both the sexually abused and physically abused groups exhibited more avoidant/dissociative symptoms as compared to the nonabused children. Results are discussed in terms of clinical and research implications. 20 references. 2 tables. (Author abstract modified)