THE COMBINED EFFECTS OF PHYSICAL, SEXUAL, AND EMOTIONAL ABUSE DURING CHILDHOOD - LONG-TERM HEALTH CONSEQUENCES FOR WOMEN

The long-term health effects of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse during childhood were studied in a sample of 668 middle class females in a gynecologic practice who responded to a self-administered, anonym ous questionnaire covering demographic information, family history, ph ysical and psychological health, as well as stressful events and abusi ve experiences as a child. Half (53%) of the sample reported childhood abuse, with 28.9% recounting exposure to one type of abuse, 18.7% to two types of abuse, and 5.4% to all three types of abuse. In compariso n to women not abused during childhood, the abused reported significan tly more hospitalizations for illnesses, a greater number of physical and psychological problems, and lower ratings of their overall health. The greater the number of childhood abuses, the poorer one's adult he alth and the more likely one was to have experienced abuse as an adult . Thus, in addition to the deleterious psychological consequences of a buse described in the literature, physical health also appears to be a dversely affected in women abused as children.