CHILDHOOD ABUSE AND SUBSEQUENT SEXUAL ASSAULT AMONG FEMALE INPATIENTS

The relationship between a history of childhood abuse and subsequent s exual assault was assessed among 409 consecutive female inpatient admi ssions. A total of 45% of the sample reported a history of some form o f childhood abuse and 22% reported at least one adulthood sexual assau lt. A hierarchical logistic regression indicated that, after controlli ng for sociodemographic and diagnostic variables, women with a history of childhood abuse were 3.1 times more likely to have experienced an adult sexual assault compared to those without abuse. There was a high er prevalence of adult sexual assault among women reporting only physi cal abuse or physical and sexual abuse than those reporting only sexua l abuse, indicating the significance of physical abuse as a potential risk factor for adult sexual assault.