Early Sexual Abuse and Clinical Depression in Adult Life | The British Journal of Psychiatry | Cambridge Core (original) (raw)

Abstract

Sexual abuse in childhood and adolescence was studied in 286 working-class mothers living in Islington, who were contacted on three occasions over a two-year period. The sample was collected primarily to study current vulnerability factors in the onset of depression, but childhood measures were also included to look at longer-term risk factors. Twenty-five women – 9% of the sample – reported sexual abuse involving physical contact before age 17 and, of these, 64% had case depression in a three-year period (which included the year before first interview). While such abuse was related to other earlier stressful experiences such as parental indifference, violence to the child and institutional stay, it was associated with an increased risk of depression over and above these factors. Sexual abuse before age 17 also related to having been divorced/separated or never having married/cohabited.

References

Andrews, A. & Brown, G. W. (1988) Marital violence in the community. A biographical approach. British Journal of Psychiatry, 153, 305–312.Google Scholar

Badgley, R., Allard, H., McCormick, N., et al (1984) Sexual Offences Against Children (vol. 1). Ottawa: Canadian Government Publishing Centre.Google Scholar

Bagley, C. & Ramsey, R. (1985) Disrupted childhood and vulnerability to sexual assault: Long-term sequels with implications for counselling. Social Work and Human Sexuality, 4, 33–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Baker, A. W. & Duncan, S. P. (1985) Child sexual abuse: a study of prevalence in Great Britain. Child Abuse and Neglect, 9, 457–467.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Bifulco, A., Brown, G. W. & Harris, T. O. (1987) Childhood loss of parent, lack of adequate parental care and adult depression: a replication. Journal of Affective Disorders, 12, 115–128.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Brown, G. W., Craig, T. J. K. & Harris, T. (1985) Depression: Disease or distress? British Journal of Psychiatry, 147, 612–622.Google Scholar

Brown, G. W., Harris, T. P. & Bifulco, A. (1986a) Long-term effects of early loss of parent. In Depression in Childhood: Developmental Perspectives (eds Rutter, M., Izard, C. & Read, P.). New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar

Brown, G. W., Andrews, B., Harris, T., et al (1986b) Social support, self-esteem and depression. Psychological Medicine, 16, 813–831.Google Scholar

Cooper, J. E., Copeland, J. R. M., Brown, G. W., et al (1977) Further studies on interviewer training and inter-rater reliability of the Present State Examination (PSE). Psychological Medicine, 7, 517–523.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Courtois, C. (1979) The incest experience and its aftermath. Victimology: An International Journal, 4, 337–347.Google Scholar

Dean, C., Surtees, P. G. & Sasmdharan, S. P. (1983) Comparison of research diagnostic systems in an Edinburgh community sample. British Journal of Psychiatry, 142, 247–256.Google Scholar

de Francis, V. (1969) Protecting the Child Victim of Sex Crimes Committed by Adults. Denver, CO: American Humane Association.Google Scholar

Finkelhor, D. (1978) Psychological, cultural and family factors in incest and family sexual abuse. Journal of Marriage and Family Counselling, 4, 41–49.Google Scholar

Finkelhor, D. (1979) Sexually Victimised Children. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar

Finkelhor, D. (1986) A Sourcebook on Child Sexual Abuse. California: Sage Publications.Google Scholar

Finkelhor, D., Hotaling, G., Lewis, I. A., et al (1990) Sexual abuse and its relationship to later sexual satisfaction, marital status, religion and attitudes. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 4, 379–399.Google Scholar

Finlay-Jones, R., Brown, G. W., Duncan-Jones, P., et al (1980) Depression and anxiety in the community. Psychological Medicine, 10, 445–454.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Fraser, B. G. (1981) Sexual child abuse: legislation and law in the U.S. In Sexually Abused Children and their Families (eds Mrazek, P. B. & Kempe, C. H.). Oxford: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar

Fromuth, M. E. (1983) The Long-Term Psychological Impact of Childhood Sexual Abuse. Doctoral dissertation, Auburn University.Google Scholar

Harris, T., Brown, G. W. & Bifulco, A. (1986) Loss of parent and adult psychiatric disorder: the role of lack of adequate parental care. Psychological Medicine, 16, 641–659.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Harris, T., Brown, G. W., Bifulco, A. (1990) Loss of parent in childhood and adult psychiatric disorder: A tentative overall model. Development and Psychopathology, 2, 311–328.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

HMSO (1988) Report of the Inquiry into Child Abuse in Cleveland 1987. London: HMSO.Google Scholar

Kempe, R. S. & Kempe, C. H. (1978) Child Abuse. London: Fontana.Google Scholar

Landis, J. (1956) Experiences of 500 children with adult sexual deviants. Psychiatric Quarterly Supplement, 30, 91–109.Google Scholar

Masson, J. M. (1985) The Assault on Truth. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.Google Scholar

Meiselman, K. (1978) Incest: A Psychological Study of its Causes and Effects with Treatment Recommendations. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar

Miller, J. A., Moeller, D., Kaufman, A., et al (1978) Recidivism among sexual assault victims. American Journal of Psychiatry, 135, 1103–1104.Google 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, i, 841–845.Google Scholar

McIntosh, M. (1988) Introduction to an issue: Family secrets a public drama. Child Sexual Abuse, 28, 6–15.Google Scholar

Nash, C. L. & West, D. (1985) Sexual molestation of young girls: a retrospective survey. In Sexual Victimisation (ed. West, D.). Aldershot: Gower.Google Scholar

Newman, L. (1983) Sexual abuse within the family. ‘19’, May, 35–39.Google Scholar

Parker, G. (1979) Parent characteristics in relation to depressive disorders. British Journal of Psychiatry, 134, 138–147.Google Scholar

Parker, G. (1983) Parental ‘affectionless control’ as an antecedent to adult depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 40, 956–960.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Peters, S. D. (1984) The Relationship Between Childhood Sexual Victimisation and Adult Depression Among Afro-American and White Women. Doctoral dissertation, University of California at Los Angeles (University Microfilms No., 84–28,555).Google Scholar

Russell, D. (1984) Sexual Exploitation, Rape, Child Sexual Abuse and Work Place Harassment. California: Sage Library of Social Research.Google Scholar

Russell, D. (1986) The Secret Trauma: Incest in the Lives of Girls and Women. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar

Sedney, M. A. & Brooks, B. (1984) Factors associated with a history of childhood sexual experience in a non-clinical female population. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 23, 215–218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Spitzer, R. L., Endicott, J. & Robins, E. (1978) Research diagnostic criteria: Rationale and reliability. Archives of General Psychiatry, 35, 773–782.Google Scholar

Straus, M., Geiles, R. & Steinmetz, S. (1980) Behind Closed Doors: Violence in the American Family. New York: Anchor.Google Scholar

Wing, J. K., Cooper, J. E. & Sartorius, N. (1974) The Measurement and Classification of Psychiatric Symptoms. London: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar

Wing, J. K. & Sturt, E. (1978) The PSE-ID-CATEGO System–A Supplementary Manual. London: Institute of Psychiatry.Google Scholar