EMOTIONAL, BEHAVIORAL, AND PHYSICAL SYMPTOMS REPORTED BY PARENTS OF SEXUALLY ABUSED, NONABUSED, AND ALLEGEDLY ABUSED PREPUBESCENT FEMALES

There have been few studies that have examined emotional, behavioral, and physical symptoms that discriminate between well-defined groups of sexually abused and nonabused children. This study examined the resul ts of a structured parent interview (SASA) completed on three matched samples of prepubescent females: 68 who were selected for nonabuse (NA Group), 68 from a sexual abuse clinic in which a perpetrator confesse d (SA Group) and 68 seen at the same clinic who did not have a perpetr ator confession (AA Group). Parents of girls in both the SA and AA gro ups reported increased sleep problems, fearfulness, emotional and beha vioral changes, concentration problems, and sexual curiosity and knowl edge. When contrasting the known (SA) with the allegedly abused sample (AA), self-consciousness, nightmares, and fearfulness of being left a lone emerged significantly more frequently in the SA sample.