Sexual Abuse in Childhood:: Psychosocial Outcomes and Implications for Social Work Practice

Abstract

A study of the prevalence of serious sexual assualt in childhood (up to age 16) is reported in the context of a community mental health study in a random sample of 377 women in a large Canadian city. Twenty-two percent of women reported sexual abuse in childhoos. Sexually abused women were twice as likely to have poor mental health as women who were not abused. The implications are addressed for helping adults whose poor mental health reflects the complex interaction of negative childhood events, including sexual abuse.