Skip to main content
Log in

Childhood abuse and subsequent sexual assault among female inpatients

  • Regular Articles
  • Published:
Journal of Traumatic Stress

Abstract

The relationship between a history of childhood abuse and subsequent sexual assault was assessed among 409 consecutive female inpatient admissions. A total of 45% of the sample reported a history of some form of childhood abuse and 22% reported at least one adulthood sexual assault. A hierarchical logistic regression indicated that, after controlling for sociodemographic and diagnostic variables, women with a history of childhood abuse were 3.1 times more likely to have experienced an adult sexual assault compared to those without abuse. There was a higher prevalence of adult sexual assault among women reporting only physical abuse or physical and sexual abuse than those reporting only sexual abuse, indicating the significance of physical abuse as a potential risk factor for adult sexual assault.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Beck, J. C., & van der Kolk, B. V. (1987). Reports of childhood incest and current behavior of chronically hospitalized psychotic women.American Journal of Psychiatry, 144 1474–1476.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Brown, G. R., & Anderson, B. (1991). Psychiatric morbidity in adult inpatients with childhood histories of sexual and physical abuse.American Journal of Psychiatry, 148 55–61.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bryer, J. B., Nelson, B. A., Miller, J. B., & Krol, P. A. (1987). Childhood sexual and physical abuse as factors in adult psychiatric illness.American Journal of Psychiatry, 144 1426–1430.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Craine, L. S., Henson, C. E., Colliver, J. A., & MacLean, D. G. (1988). Prevalence of a history of sexual abuse among female psychiatric patients in a state hospital system.Hospital and Community Psychiatry, 39 300–304.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ellis, E., Atkeson, B., & Calhoun, K. (1982). An examination of differences between multiple and single-incident victims of sexual assault.Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 91 221–224.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Finkelhor, D., & Dziuba-Leatherman, J. (1994). Victimization of children.American Psychologist, 49 173–183.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Frank, E., Turner, S. M., & Stewart, B. D. (1980). Initial response to rape: The impact of factors with the rape situation.Journal of Behavioral Assessment, 2 39–53.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fromuth, M. E. (1986). The relationship of childhood sexual abuse with later psychological and sexual adjustment in a sample of college women.Child Abuse and Neglect, 10 5–15.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gidycz, C., Cobel, C. N., Latham, L., & Layman, M. J. (1993). Sexual assault experience in adulthood and prior victimization experiences.Psychology of Women Quarterly, 17 151–168.

    Google Scholar 

  • Husain, A., & Chapel, J. L. (1983). History of incest in girls admitted to a psychiatric hospital.American Journal of Psychiatry, 140 591–593.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jacobson, A., & Richardson, B. (1987). Assault experiences of 100 psychiatric inpatients: Evidence of the need for routine inquiry.American Journal of Psychiatry, 144 908–913.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Koss, M. P., & Dinero, T. E. (1989). Discriminant analysis of risk factors for sexual victimization among a national sample of college women.Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 57 242–250.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Koss, M. P., & Harvey, M. R. (1991).The rape victim: Clinical and community interventions. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mandoki, C. A., & Burkhart, B. R. (1989). Sexual victimization: Is there a vicious cycle.Violence and Victims, 4 179–190.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Marhoefer-Dvorak, S., Resick, P. A., Hutter, C. K., & Girelli, S. A. (1988). Single- versus multiple-incident rape victims: A comparison of psychological reactions to rape.Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 3 145–160.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, J., Moeller, D., Kaufman, A., DiVasto, P., Pathak, D., & Christy, J. (1978). Recidivism among sex assault victims.American Journal of Psychiatry, 135 1103–1104.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • National Women's Survey (1992).Rape in America: A report to the nation. Arlington, VA: National Victim Center & Charleston, SC: Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosenfeld, A. A. (1979). Incidence of a history of incest among 18 female psychiatric patients.American Journal of Psychiatry, 136 791–795.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wyatt, G., Guthrie, D., & Notgrass, C. M. (1992). Differential effects of women's child sexual abuse and subsequent sexual revictimization.Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 60 167–173.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

About this article

Cite this article

Cloitre, M., Tardiff, K., Marzuk, P.M. et al. Childhood abuse and subsequent sexual assault among female inpatients. J Trauma Stress 9, 473–482 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02103659

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02103659

Key words

Navigation