The 134 families in the study were divided into three groups; group I consisted of 32 children and their parents. Half of the children were male, aged 4 to 8 years, who were sexually abused in day care centers. Their age at the time the abuse began ranged from 1 to 4 years. The time between the end of the abuse and data collection ranged from 8 to 36 months. The parents in group I included 32 mothers and 25 fathers. The majority of families were of middle to high socioeconomic status with 82 percent falling into social classes I and II on the Hollingshead Index of Social Status. Subjects were assigned to Group II if the children reported involvement in satanic rituals. Group III, the comparison group, was comprised of 67 nonabused children and their parents. The parents of the child victims completed three standardized instruments: the Child Behavior Checklist, the Symptom Checklist-90-R, and the Impact of Event Scale. In addition, parents completed a questionnaire on the child's case history and demographic data. Findings from this study support and extend earlier reports that children are negatively affected by sexual abuse. Although the follow-up period was relatively short (2.2 years), this study does suggest that this group of children has persistent behavioral disturbances. Consistent with findings reported in earlier studies, the sexually abused children manifested more sexual problems than the nonabused subjects. The increased psychological distress found in parents of sexually abused children in this study empirically validates the clinical literature that asserts that sexual victimization is a major stressor for nonoffending parents. 5 tables and 32 references