Psychiatric disorders in sexually abused children

This study was designed to compare the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in a clinical sample of sexually abused children referred for outpatient evaluation. Two a priori hypotheses were tested: (1) the sexually abused group would have more post-traumatic stress disorder than the non-sexually abused group and (2) non-sexually abused children referred for evaluation would have more diagnoses than the sexually abused group.

Twenty-six sexually abused children and 23 non-sexually abused children referred for psychiatric outpatient evaluation at a medical school center were matched by age, sex, race, and socioeconomic status and compared to determine differences in prevalence of Axis I, DSM-III-R disorders. The Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children-Epidemiologic Version was used for systematic diagnosis.

Groups did not differ significantly in the number of diagnoses and, in both groups, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder was the most frequent diagnosis. However, the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder among sexually abused children was significantly greater (p < .02), with 42.3% of sexually abused children and 8.7% of non-sexually abused children meeting full criteria. There were no significant differences between groups in other diagnostic categories.

This study, using structured interviews and comparison groups, confirmed earlier findings suggesting that sexually abused children are at heightened risk for the development of post-traumatic stress disorder.