Citation

McLeer SV, Callaghan M, Henry D, Wallen J. J. Am. Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry 1994; 33(3): 313-319.

Affiliation

Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Medical College of Pennsylvania/Eastern Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute, Philadelphia 19129.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1994, American Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry, Publisher Lippincott Williams and Wilkins)

DOI

10.1097/00004583-199403000-00003

PMID

8169175

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: 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. METHODS: 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. RESULTS: 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. CONCLUSIONS: 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.

Language: en