Six- and Twelve-Month Follow-up of Sexually Abused Girls

Abstract

This study was a follow-up investigation of the psychological symptomatology exhibited by sexually abused girls. Seventy-three sexually abused girls ages 7 to 13 were compared with 69 clinical controls and 69 normal controls at 6-and 12-month follow-up assessments. Assessment measures included the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children (STAIC), the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale, and the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL parent version). All findings with the self-report measures were nonsignificant except on the Piers-Harris at the 6-month follow-up, in which abused subjects had significantly higher self-esteem than both control groups. On the CBCL, the sexually abused girls and clinical controls exhibited significantly more problems than did the normal controls at both follow-ups on the Total Behavior Problems Scale, the Internalizing Scale, the Externalizing Scale, and at least 7 of 9 subscales. Subgroup analysis of the sexually abused group revealed that at the 12-month follow-up, abused girls who had been subjected to intercourse displayed significantly more emotional/behavioral difficulties on all of the self-report measures and three broad band factors of the CBCL than those who had been subjected to fondling. Results are discussed in the context of other recent empirically sound investigations of the psychological impact of child sexual abuse.