Note on an MMPI-2 scale of early sexual abuse

The mean of 191 female psychiatric inpatients on the Griffith, Myers, and Tankersley (1996) MMPI-2 scale of childhood sexual abuse was compared with means of 2 community samples (58 sexually abused women and 57 nonabused women). The mean of the patients was substantially larger than that of the nonabused women but slightly larger than that of the abused women. The scale may measure general maladjustment or psychopathology instead of, or in addition to, specific sequelae of sexual abuse. Further investigation is necessary to cross-validate the scale in community samples and to examine whether scores differentiate abused and non-abused women in clinical samples. This note illustrates use of an archival data set with results of recent research.