@article{ref1,
title="Psychiatric disorders in sexually abused children",
journal="Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry",
year="1994",
author="McLeer, S. V. and Callaghan, M. and Henry, D. and Wallen, Judy",
volume="33",
number="3",
pages="313-319",
abstract="OBJECTIVE: This study was designed to compare the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in a clinical sample of sexually abused children referred for outpatient evaluation. Two a priori hypotheses were tested: (1) the sexually abused group would have more post-traumatic stress disorder than the non-sexually abused group and (2) non-sexually abused children referred for evaluation would have more diagnoses than the sexually abused group. METHODS: Twenty-six sexually abused children and 23 non-sexually abused children referred for psychiatric outpatient evaluation at a medical school center were matched by age, sex, race, and socioeconomic status and compared to determine differences in prevalence of Axis I, DSM-III-R disorders. The Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children-Epidemiologic Version was used for systematic diagnosis. RESULTS: Groups did not differ significantly in the number of diagnoses and, in both groups, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder was the most frequent diagnosis. However, the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder among sexually abused children was significantly greater (p < .02), with 42.3% of sexually abused children and 8.7% of non-sexually abused children meeting full criteria. There were no significant differences between groups in other diagnostic categories. CONCLUSIONS: This study, using structured interviews and comparison groups, confirmed earlier findings suggesting that sexually abused children are at heightened risk for the development of post-traumatic stress disorder.<p /><p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0890-8567",
doi="10.1097/00004583-199403000-00003",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/00004583-199403000-00003"
}