Citation

Kolko DJ, Moser JT, Weldy SR. J. Fam. Violence 1990; 5(4): 249-267.

Affiliation

Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, 3811 O''Hara St., 15213 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; The Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, 19107 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Copyright

(Copyright © 1990, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/BF00979063

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This study examines findings from a pediatric health history and child physical examination conducted for 105 outpatient and 105 inpatient children who were classified on the basis of their history of physical and sexual abuse. Based on multivariate and univariate analyses, physically abused children had more early developmental delays, neurologic soft signs, serious physical injuries, skin markings and scars, and stimulant drug use than their non-physically abused peers. Sexually abused children were reported to exhibit higher levels of sexual activity and stimulant drug use, and had more physical signs of genital manipulation than non-sexually abused children. These data highlight the need to further examine the impact of medical and developmental aberrations, the nature and origins of recurrent physical injuries in this population, and the extent of risk-taking in understanding the differences between physical and sexual child maltreatment.