Citation

Gold SN, Hughes DM, Swingle JM. J. Fam. Violence 1999; 14(1): 35-46.

Affiliation

Center for Psychological Studies, Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, 33314

Copyright

(Copyright © 1999, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1023/A:1022813925852

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Past and current memory for childhood sexual abuse reported by a clinical sample of 160 women survivors was assessed utilizing a structured clinical interview. Response alternatives for memory were ordered along a continuum. To minimize treatment effects, participants were interviewed as early in therapy as possible. Fairly complete recollection both in the past and currently was reported by 26.3% of the sample, 36.9% apparently lost and subsequently recovered sexual abuse memories, and 36.9% endorsed intermediate degrees of memory. Only 2.5% indicated a decrease in degree of recollection over time. Age at onset was the only abuse characteristic found to differentiate participants with fairly complete memory from the rest of the sample. Findings are interpreted as illustrating that conclusions about memory for abuse are highly dependent on the way inquiries are conceptualized and worded.
sexual abuse - memory - child abuse - recovered memories.