PSYCHIATRIC-DISORDERS IN SEXUALLY ABUSED-CHILDREN

Objective: This study was designed to compare the prevalence of psychi atric disorders in a clinical sample of sexually abused children refer red for outpatient evaluation. Two a priori hypotheses were tested: (1 ) the sexually abused group would have more post-traumatic stress diso rder than the non-sexually abused group and (2) non-sexually abused ch ildren referred for evaluation would have more diagnoses than the sexu ally abused group. Methods: Twenty-six sexually abused children and 23 non-sexually abused children referred for psychiatric outpatient eval uation at a medical school center were matched by age, sex, race, and socioeconomic status and compared to determine differences in prevalen ce of Axis 1, DSM-III-R disorders. The Schedule for Affective Disorder s and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children-Epidemiologic Version was used for systematic diagnosis. Results: Groups did not differ signific antly in the number of diagnoses and, in both groups, attention-defici t hyperactivity disorder was the most frequent diagnosis. However, the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder among sexually abused ch ildren was significantly greater (p < .02), with 42.3% of sexually abu sed children and 8.7% of non-sexually abused children meeting full cri teria. There were no significant differences between groups in other d iagnostic categories. Conclusions: This study, using structured interv iews and comparison groups, confirmed earlier findings suggesting that sexually abused children are at heightened risk for the development o f post-traumatic stress disorder.