Sexual abuse characteristics associated with survivor psychopathology

This study was designed to examine predictors of psychopathology in non-clinically referred, sexually abused (SA) children, ages 6-16 years, 30-60 days following abuse disclosure and termination.

Eighty SA children were administered a structured diagnostic interview and a variety of rating-scale instruments. Several forms of psychopathology were assessed, including posttraumatic stress, global functioning, anxiety, depression, and externalizing behavior. Abuse interviews also were used to guide the collection of demographic (victim age, gender) and abuse-related information (e.g., frequency of abuse).

Abuse-related factors and demographic variables accounted for greater than half of the variance predicting global functioning, and accurately predicted posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) status for 86% of the participants. Also, analyses yielded significant predictors of parent-reported attention problems and sexual behavior. Of additional importance, none of the abuse-related and demographic variables predicted scores on measures of general anxiety, depression, and externalizing behavior.

Specific demographic and sexual abuse information may, to some extent, be used to identify children who are at increased risk for short-term post-abuse psychopathology. Although the present findings suggest that such information may not be useful in the prediction of general anxiety, depression, and externalizing behavior, demographic and abuse-related variables importantly appear to account for significant variance in the prediction of global functioning, posttraumatic stress, attentiveness, and sexual behavior. Additional research is needed to improve mental health professionals' ability to identify SA children who are at high risk for psychopathology.