TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2001//
TI  - Abuse and deliberate self-poisoning in women: a matched case-control study
JO  - Child abuse and neglect
A1  - Tomàs, Josep
A1  - Hawton, Keith E.
A1  - Tobias, Aurelio
A1  - Law, Fergus
A1  - Coll, Xavier
SP  - 1291
EP  - 1302
VL  - 25
IS  - 10
N2  - OBJECTIVE: Controlled studies have shown deliberate self-harm to be more common in abused populations, but no controlled studies have shown abuse to be more common in self-harming populations. This is the first controlled study to determine whether abuse experiences (sexual, physical, and psychological) occurred more commonly in women who take overdoses than in controls. METHOD: The design was a matched (1:1) case-control study set in a district general hospital in England. The subjects were 36 women admitted following deliberate self-poisoning. They were matched with the next non-overdose admission to the same hospital on six variables (sex, age, ethnicity, social class, marital status, and geographical locality). The main outcome measures used were modified versions of standardized self-report questionnaires of sexual, physical, and psychological abuse, together with measures of parenting style and general psychopathology. RESULTS: Women who had taken an overdose were more likely (odds ratio 15.0, 95% confidence interval 2.0 to 113.6) to have been sexually abused, and somewhat more likely to have been psychologically (1.02, 1.00 to 1.05) but not physically abused. They also had higher measures of psychopathology (GHQ-30: 1.19, 1.07 to 1.31), were more likely to have been abused at a younger age, exposed to the "affectionless control" style of parenting by their mothers, and to have harmed themselves in other ways. CONCLUSIONS: The management of women presenting to hospital after self-poisoning should include assessment of abuse experiences, and instigation of appropriate treatment in those with significant sequelae of abuse.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0145-2134
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/
ID  - ref1
ER  -