Citation

Carlin AS, Kemper KJ, Ward NG, Sowell H, Gustafson B, Stevens N. Child Abuse Negl. 1994; 18(5): 393-399.

Affiliation

University of Washington School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Seattle 98195.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1994, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

8032969

Abstract

The relationship between objective and subjective definitions of physical abuse and the lifetime prevalence of depression was examined in 280 women attending a family medicine clinic at a large medical center. Based on their responses to a detailed questionnaire regarding discipline and abuse in childhood, 28.2% of these women were objectively defined as abused. Only 11.4% subjectively defined themselves as abused. The proportion of women who experienced depression during their lifetime was highest among those who defined themselves as abused (83%), intermediate among those who met objective criteria for having been physically abused, but did not define themselves as such (56%), and lowest among those who did not meet objective criteria for a history of physical abuse (35%). Similar relationships were found for history of psychotherapy, receipt of psychoactive medication, history of hospitalization for depression, suicide attempts and self-injury.

Language: en