Gender differences in symptoms of adolescents reporting sexual assault.
Sexual assault on children and adolescents has become a common topic of study, but there has been little research into the specific characteristics of the population of male victims. A national survey representative of school-age adolescents in France enabled us to study 465 adolescents reporting sexual assault (121 boys, 344 girls; mean age 15.4, SD 2.5 years). Girls were shown to be more frequently affected by certain medicopsychological symptoms: nightmares, multiple somatic complaints and some items concerning mood disorders. On the other hand, behavioural symptoms were much more frequently expressed in boys, in particular: repeated suicide attempts, running away, fits of violence and substance use. Boys presenting these symptoms should be questioned as a matter of routine concerning a history of sexual assault.
Darves-Bornoz
J M
JM
Clinique Psychiatrique Universitaire, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Tours, France.
Choquet
M
M
Ledoux
S
S
Gasquet
I
I
Manfredi
R
R
D000293:Adolescent; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005602:France; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D016017:Odds Ratio; D012737:Sex Factors; D012742:Sex Offenses / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012744:Sex Ratio; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires