Citation

Doerfler L, Toscano P, Connor DF. J. Child Fam. Stud. 2009; 18(1): 112-122.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s10826-008-9212-3

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

We examined the relationship of gender and different forms of abuse experience on internalizing symptoms, externalizing symptoms, and IQ in a sample of 397 youngsters who were admitted to a residential treatment program. Three types of abuse experience were examined in this study: sexual abuse only, physical abuse only, and both sexual and physical abuse. Results indicate that girls exhibited higher levels of internalizing and externalizing symptoms even though abuse experience was accounted for in the analyses. Moreover, youngsters who had experienced sexual abuse (but not physical abuse) exhibited higher levels of internalizing and externalizing symptoms than youngsters who had not been abused. Implications for developing individualized interventions based on gender and abuse experience in residential treatment programs is discussed.