In a national survey of 2,963 professional women, the Trauma Symptom Checklist was found to be reliable and to display predictive validity in regard to childhood sexual victimization. Women who reported a sexual abuse history scored significantly higher than did women with no such history on each of the six subscales. (Author/DB)

Methods of coping with childhood sexual abuse were retrospectively studied with 54 adult women who had been sexually abused in childhood. "Denial" and "emotional repression" were the coping methods most commonly employed. Analysis suggested that avoidant/emotion suppressing strategies were associated with poorer adult psychological adjustment.…

This study assessed the relationships among hypnotizability, clinical dissociation and traumatic antecedents in 54 sexually abused girls, ages 6 to 15 years, and 51 matched controls. There were no significant differences in hypnotizability between abuse and control subjects. However, in the abuse group, highly hypnotizable subjects were…

Structured clinical interviews with 135 women entering an outpatient treatment program for survivors of childhood sexual abuse found that participants indicated experiencing considerably more severe abuse, at a younger age, for longer duration, and at the hands of more perpetrators than reported in the literature on nonclinical samples of…

Women health care professionals reporting a history of childhood psychological maltreatment (n=55) were compared to a nonabused group (n=55) on three dimensions of anxiety, depression, and dissociation. A significant discriminant function using the three measures as predictor variables was able to correctly classify 74.5% of the abused…

Analysis of questionnaire responses of 280 women found that 28.2% were objectively defined as abused as children though only 11.4% subjectively defined themselves as abused. Depression was highest (83%) among those who defined themselves as abused, intermediate (56%) among those only objectively defined as abused, and least (35%) among those not…

Interviews with 60 female victims (ages 7-12) of sexual abuse found that most viewed relationships with their mothers as warm and accepting. Girls who perceived lower maternal rejection had higher competency ratings and fewer behavior problems. Abuse involving force was correlated with lower victim competency. More violent abuse was correlated…

Evaluation of the psychiatric histories and projective test responses of 102 sexually abused girls found that the following characteristics of abuse were significantly associated with greater psychological disturbance: more than one perpetrator, an early age of abuse onset, and periods of intense and frequent abuse episodes. A relatively stable…

A survey of 128 undergraduate female students indicated that 44% had experienced cross-gender sexual play as children, which was often seen as involving persuasion, manipulation, or coercion. A typology of six kinds of sexual play experiences was derived. Discussion focuses on the differentiation of childhood sexual abuse from play and gender…

Sixty-one clinical psychologists evaluated a case summary of an adult client which incorporated indicators of possible sexual abuse. Significantly more clinicians hypothesized that the female client (compared to the male client) had been sexually abused in childhood. More recently qualified clinicians and clinicians whose predominant orientation…

Comparison of 2 interviews, with either a male or female interviewer, of 56 women who reported a history of sexual abuse found approximately one-third of the incidents were reported in only 1 interview, with gender of interviewer making little apparent difference. Contrary to expectation, subjects appeared to be more forthcoming at the first…

Young women (n=102) with bulimia nervosa were compared with 204 control subjects without an eating disorder and with 102 subjects with other psychiatric disorders. Results suggest that sexual and physical abuse are both risk factors for psychiatric disorders in general, including bulimia nervosa, but are not specific risk factors for bulimia. (DB)

This study, using multivariate analysis and operationalized variables, examined possible risk factors for childhood sexual abuse (CSA) in 3,958 Australian women. The variables significantly associated with CSA were physical abuse, having a mother who was mentally ill, not having someone to confide in, and being socially isolated. Different…

Structured clinical interviews concerning childhood histories of physical and sexual abuse with 70 mentally ill women at 2 times found test-retest reliability of .63 for physical abuse and .82 for sexual abuse. Validity, assessed as consistency with an independent clinical assessment, showed 75% agreement for physical abuse and 93% agreement for…

Thirty-eight female inpatients with major depression were assessed for childhood abuse. History of abuse was examined in relation to recovery from a major depressive episode over a 12-month follow-up period. Forty-six percent of the women had a history of childhood abuse. Women without a history of abuse were 3.7 times more likely to have…