title: Abuse in childhood and religious/spiritual status in adulthood among internal medicine outpatients.
abstract: The relationship between abuse in childhood and religiosity/spirituality status in adulthood has been previously studied, but not in a medical sample or with the current study measure. Using a cross-sectional consecutive sample of 317 internal medicine outpatients, we asked participants, "As a child, were you the victim of either physical or sexual abuse?," and assessed religiosity/spirituality status with the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Spiritual Well-Being Scale (FACIT-Sp-12). We found that among the cohort with abuse in childhood, seven of twelve scales as well as the overall FACIT-Sp-12 score demonstrated statistically significant differences, with abused participants consistently evidencing lower religiosity/spirituality scores.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Psychiatry and Internal Medicine, Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine, Dayton, OH, USA, Randy.sansone@khnetwork.org.
authors.forename: Randy A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Sansone
authors.forename: Amy R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Kelley
authors.forename: Jeremy S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Forbis
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000523:psychology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007388:Internal Medicine; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010045:Outpatients / Q000523:psychology*; D012068:Religion and Medicine; D029181:Spirituality; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult