Symptomatology Associated With Childhood Sexual Victimization in a Nonclinical Adult Sample

• NCJ Number: 111229
• Journal: Child Abuse and Neglect Volume: 12 Issue: 1 Dated: (1988) Pages: 51-59
• Author(s): J Briere; M Runtz
• Date Published: 1988
• Length: 10 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: A version of this paper was presented to the American Psychological Association, August 1985, Los Angeles.

Annotation

This study examined the incidence and long-term effects of childhood sexual abuse in a nonclinical sample of 278 female undergraduates.

Abstract

Approximately 15 percent of these women reported having sexual contact with a significantly older person before age 15. The typical victim was 9 years old at the time of first abuse, while the typical abuser was 26 years old. She was abused an average of 7.2 times over a variable period. Of victims, 46.4 percent experienced multiple incidents of abuse for up to a year. On a modified version of the Hopkins Symptoms Checklist, abused women reported higher levels of dissociation, somatization, anxiety, and depression than did their nonabused counterparts. Abuse-related symptomatology was positively associated with the age of the abuser, the total number of abusers, use of force during victimization, parental incest, completed intercourse, and extended duration of abuse. Overall, results suggests that sexual victimization is not only relatively common, but often traumatogenic as well. 3 tables, 45 notes, and 45 references. (Author abstract modified)