Citation

Mullen PE, Romans-Clarkson SE, Walton VA, Herbison GP. Lancet 1988; 1(8590): 841-845.

Affiliation

Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1988, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

2895362

Abstract

A study conducted in New Zealand examined the relation between women's mental health and past experiences of sexual and physical abuse in a randomly selected community sample. The level of psychiatric symptomatology was assessed using the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) and the Present State Examination (PSE). About 13.1% of the women interviewed and 9.9% of the original random sample reported having some form of sexual abuse as a child. About 4.6% of the subjects interviewed and some 3.5% of the original sample reported experiencing sexual abuse as an adult. About 20.1% of the interviewed sample and 16.2% of the original sample identified themselves as having been physically abused as an adult. These women with histories of abuse have higher GHQ and PSE scores than the nonabused and were more likely to be identified as psychiatric cases. Psychiatric disorders were identified in 20% of women who experienced childhood sexual abuse; similar increases in psychopathology were found in women who had been abused as an adult. The results of this study indicate that the harmful effects of abuse can continue to contribute to the psychiatric morbidity of women for many years.

Language: en