The reported prevalence of physical and sexual abuse among a sample of children and adolescents at a public psychiatric hospital.
In this retrospective analysis of inpatient charts, a total of 298 children and adolescents admitted to a public psychiatric hospital over a 1-year period were examined for the prevalence of reported histories of physical or sexual abuse. Physical abuse was reported in 15% of the cases, while sexual abuse occurred in 13%. A variety of comparisons were made examining possible differences in gender, age, race, diagnosis, and personality trait disturbance among the abused and nonabused patients. Relative to known prevalence rates as reported to child protective agencies, physical or sexual abuse occurred much more frequently among our sample of patients, suggesting the need for careful assessment of such histories upon admission and during treatment.
Randall
E J
EJ
Department of Psychiatry, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta 30912.
Josephson
A M
AM
Chowanec
G
G
Thyer
B A
BA
D000293:Adolescent; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D005845:Georgia / Q000453:epidemiology; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006769:Hospitals, General; D006778:Hospitals, Psychiatric; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008487:Medical History Taking; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D010343:Patient Admission; D011159:Population Surveillance; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012494:Sampling Studies