PERSONAL HISTORY OF CHILDHOOD ABUSE AMONG CLINICIAN

We conducted a survey to determine the prevalence, characteristics, an d effects of a history of childhood sexual and physical abuse among pr ofessionals responsible for evaluating child sexual abuse allegations. A gender-stratified random sample of 1,635 United States clinicians w as drawn from the most current national directories of clinical social work, pediatrics, psychiatry, and psychology. We received 656 complet ed questionnaires, yielding a 42% response rate. Thirteen percent of t he men and 20% of the women reported a personal history of childhood s exual abuse; 7.3% of the men and 6.9% of the women reported a history of physical abuse as children. The modal age at which both genders wer e sexually abused was 8 years. The modal age at the time of physical a buse was 10 years for both sexes. Of those sexually abused, 50% of bot h genders were sexually abused for only 1 year. Of those physically ab used, more than 50% of both genders were physically abused for 3 or mo re years. Older females were more likely to report a history of sexual abuse than were their younger cohorts. In this population, physical a buse was overwhelmingly perpetrated by parents. However, the modal per petrators of sexual abuse (for both females and males) were nude acqua intances or male strangers. Fathers and stepfathers were unlikely to b e perpetrators of sexual abuse (3% for males and 12% for females) in t his sample. For both genders, particularly males, sexually abused resp ondents were less likely to be married than their nonabused cohorts. B oth men and women who had been sexually abused were more likely to be in nonmarital relationships than were those who had not been sexually abused. Women who had been sexually abused were less likely to have ra ised children than were women who had not been sexually abused. Respon dents who had been sexually abused and/or physically abused were more likely to believe allegations of sexual abuse contained in 16 vignette s alleging sexual abuse.