Thyroid Hormone Levels and Psychological Symptoms in Sexually Abused Adolescent Girls

• NCJ Number: 214886
• Journal: Child Abuse & Neglect Volume: 30 Issue: 6 Dated: June 2006 Pages: 589-598
• Author(s): Mark G. Haviland; Janet L. Sonne; Donald L. Anderson; Jerald C. Nelson; Clare Sheridan-Matney; Joy G. Nichols; Esther I. Carlton; William G. C. Murdoch
• Date Published: June 2006
• Length: 10 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study examined the association between psychological symptoms and thyroid hormone levels in adolescent girls who had been sexually abused.

Abstract

The sexual abuse questionnaire found that the sexual abuse for all 22 girls in the sample involved penetration. For eight girls, the perpetrator was well-known to her. Physical force and verbal threats were commonly used by the perpetrators; and for 19 of the girls, the abuse was their first experience of sexual abuse. For 14 of the 22 girls, the abuse was repeated. The measure of the girls' psychological symptoms ranged from very low (some absent) to relatively high (severe). Depression correlated positively with both general distress and posttraumatic stress disorders (PTSD). General distress and PTSD correlated positively and highly. Although the girls' thyroid hormone concentrations were generally within the age-specific reference range limits, there were medium negative correlations among free and total T3 levels and psychological symptoms (depression, general distress, and PTSD). The lower the levels of free and total T3, the greater the distress, these findings are consistent with Wang and Mason's (1999) and Bauer, Priebe, Kurten, Graf, and Baumgartner's (1994) data, which led to their conclusion that in some situations, "adaptation" to stress is toward conservation-withdrawal and a resetting of the metabolic system toward conservation, anabolism, and decreased thyroid levels. The study design was cross-sectional/correlational. The 22 girls ranged in age from 12-18 years old. The testing involved drawing blood for lab tests of hormone levels; the completion of two psychological tests for depression and general distress as well as PTSD; and the completion of a sexual abuse questionnaire after a pediatrician's review of law enforcement and child protective services reports, forensic interviews, and medical examinations. 2 tables and 47 references