Citation

Epstein JN, Saunders BE, Kilpatrick DG. J. Trauma. Stress 1997; 10(4): 573-588.

Affiliation

National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston 29425-0742, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1997, International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

9391942

Abstract

The impact of factors that predispose childhood rape victims to develop posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is important in understanding both the impact of childhood rape and the development of PTSD as a psychological disorder. The present study attempted to determine which crime, perpetrator, victim, and aftermath characteristics are related to PTSD status. A national representative sample of women (N = 3,220) were interviewed about their history of rape, trauma-related variables, and PTSD status. Consistent with research on crime victims, life threat and physical injury discriminated PTSD status in a sample of childhood rape victims. In addition, two other domains were related to PTSD development: (1) testification about rape and (2) rape types. The present findings are discussed in relation to previous research.

Language: en