Somatic Symptoms in Sexually Abused Children

Abstract

Contrasted a nonabused sample of 3 to 12-year-old children (n = 847) with a sexually abused sample (n = 252) with regards to somatic symptoms assessed via parent report, including the Child Behavior Checklist. Using ANCOVA, and controlling for family income, maternal education, age, and sex, the girls 3-6 years old who were abused and the boys 7-12 years old who were abused were reported to have the greatest number of somatic symptoms. Force and number of perpetrators were abuse-specific variables directly related to the number of somatic symptoms. Results suggest that for some children sexual abuse is related to an increased report of subjective somatic complaints.