Objective: To determine if there is any association between childhood sexual assault and maladaptive coping behaviour in adult life.
Design: A case-control study.
Setting and patients: Data from 707 psychiatric patients consecutively examined by one psychiatrist in a rural practice were analysed. Forty-four female patients who were victims of childhood sexual assault were identified and were age matched in a random manner with 88 control patients who denied being sexually assaulted as children.
Results: The two groups were similar in occupational level, employment and marital status, and the only diagnostic difference between them was that there was a trend in the sexually assaulted group for more of these patients to be diagnosed as having personality disorder. On a variety of other outcome factors, however, the two groups differed widely. The sexually assaulted women were more frequently victims of domestic violence (odds ratio [OR], 6.4), made suicide attempts (OR, 3.4) and abused alcohol (OR, 3.0) or tranquillisers (OR, 4.6) more often than the non-assaulted women. There was a definite association between childhood sexual assault and maladaptive coping behaviour in adult life, although the association is not necessarily causal, and the childhood sexual assault may, in fact, be a symptom of familial neglect.
Conclusion: This study provides clear evidence of the need to follow up victims of childhood sexual assault and reinforces the importance of enquiring about this trauma.