NCJ Number
217357
Journal
Journal of Child Sexual Abuse Volume: 16 Issue: 1 Dated: 2007 Pages: 107-125
Date Published
2007
Length
19 pages
Annotation
This article reports on two studies that were designed to advance the development of the Sexual Abuse Questionnaire (SAQ), which is intended to provide a valid and reliable screening measure for the identification of individuals who experienced childhood sexual abuse (CSA), even though they may not have indicated such abuse on direct questioning.
Abstract
In the first study, the SAQ demonstrated good internal consistency and split-half reliability, and it showed moderate to high correlations with other instruments that purported to measure symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and trauma related to CSA. Participants who had experienced child physical abuse (CPA) but no CSA scored higher on the SAQ than nonabused participants, but did not score differently from those with a CSA history. Participants with a combined history of childhood physical and sexual abuse (CA) scored higher than those with no abuse history as well as those with a history of CSA or CPA alone. Based on the study findings, some of the SAQ items were deleted because they did not add to the sensitivity of the instrument. The second study tested the SAQ after its revision from Study I. The newly constructed instrument, called the Binghamton Childhood Abuse Screen (BCAS), showed adequate internal consistency and convergent validity with the Traumatic Symptom Inventory and showed good criterion-free measures of sensitivity across CSA, CPA, CA, and childhood abuse history in discriminating them from nonabused individuals. The endorsement of some items was more strongly associated with a history of CSA than of CPA, and other items were more strongly linked with CPA than with CSA. Those with CA histories were more likely to endorse both types of items. The methodology of each of the two studies is described. 1 figure, 1 table, 31 references, and appendix