Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T17:11:25.005Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Childhood Sexual Experiences with Adults

A Comparison of Reports by Women Psychiatric Patients and General-Practice Attenders

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Robert L. Palmer ,
Linda Coleman ,
Deborah Chaloner ,
Rhoda Oppenheimer  and
Jennifer Smith
Robert L. Palmer*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Leicester
Linda Coleman
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Leicester
Deborah Chaloner
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Leicester
Rhoda Oppenheimer
Affiliation:
Department of Social Services, Leicestershire County Council and Department of Psychiatry, University of Leicester
Jennifer Smith
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Leicester
*
∗University Department of Psychiatry, Leicester General Hospital, Gwendolen Road, Leicester LE5 4PW
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Reports of childhood sexual experiences with adults were collected from 120 women attending general-practice surgeries and 115 women psychiatric patients. The method of study, research team and county of residence were the same for the two groups. The psychiatric patients tended to report rates of events higher than the general-practice attenders by a factor of 2–3. The results suggest an association between such experiences and later psychiatric patienthood and are compatible with a causal role for them in some cases.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 163 , Issue 4 , October 1993 , pp. 499 - 504
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1993 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Baker, A. & Duncan, S. (1985) Child sexual abuse: a study of prevalence in Great Britain. Child Abuse and Neglect, 9, 457–467.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Burnham, M. A., Stein, J., Golding, J. M., et al (1988) Sexual assault and mental disorders in a community population. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 56, 843–850.Google Scholar
Davenport, C., Browne, K. & Palmer, R. L. (1993) Opinions on the traumatising effects of child sexual abuse: evidence for consensus. Child Abuse and Neglect (in press).Google Scholar
Finkelhor, D. (1979) Sexually Victimized Children. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Finkelhor, D. (1984) Child Sexual Abuse: New Theory and Research. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Fox, R. (1967) Kinship and Marriage: an Anthropological Perspective. Baltimore: Penguin.Google Scholar
Freud, S. (1896) The aetiology of hysteria. The Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Vol. III. London: Hogarth.Google Scholar
Freud, S. (1914) On the history of the psychoanalytic movement. The Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Vol. III. London: Hogarth.Google Scholar
Markowe, H. L. H. (1988) The frequency of child sexual abuse in the United Kingdom. Health Trends, 20, 2–6.Google Scholar
Masson, J. (1984) The Assault on Truth: Freud's Suppression of the Seduction Theory. London and Boston: Faber & Faber.Google Scholar
McClelland, L., Mynors-Wallis, L., Fahy, T., et al (1991) Sexual abuse, disordered personality and eating disorders. British Journal of Psychiatry, 158 (suppl. 10), 63–68.Google Scholar
Metcalfe, M., Oppenheimer, R., Dignon, A., et al (1990) Childhood sexual experiences reported by male psychiatric patients. Psychological Medicine, 20, 925–929.Google Scholar
Mullen, P. E. (1990) The long-term influence of sexual assault on the mental health of victims. Journal of Forensic Psychiatry, 1, 13–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mullen, P. E., Romans-Clarkson, S. E., Walton, V. A., et al (1988) Impact of sexual and physical abuse on women's mental health. Lancet, 841–845.Google Scholar
Oppenheimer, R., Howells, K., Palmer, R. L., et al (1985) Adverse sexual experiences in childhood and clinical eating disorders: a preliminary description. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 19, 357–361.Google Scholar
Palmer, R. L., Oppenheimer, R., Dignon, A., et al (1990) Childhood sexual experiences with adults reported by women with eating disorders: an extended series. British Journal of Psychiatry, 156, 699–703.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Palmer, R. L., Oppenheimer, R., Dignon, A., Chaloner, D. A. & Oppenheimer, R. (1992) Childhood sexual experiences with adults reported by female psychiatric patients. British Journal of Psychiatry, 160, 261–265.Google Scholar
Sheldrick, C. (1991) Adult sequelae of child sexual abuse. British Journal of Psychiatry, 158 (suppl. 10), 55–62.Google Scholar
Stoller, R. J. & Herdt, G. H. (1985) Theories of origins of male homosexuality. Archives of General Psychiatry, 42, 399–404.Google Scholar
World Health Organization (1978) Mental Disorders: Glossary and Guide to their Classification in Accordance with the Ninth Revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-9). Geneva: WHO.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.