NCJ Number
152497
Journal
Journal of Interpersonal Violence Volume: 9 Issue: 4 Dated: (December 1994) Pages: 535-547
Date Published
1994
Length
13 pages
Annotation
The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) was used to compare personality characteristics of 105 sexually abused individuals and a matched nonabused sample of 105 clinic patients.
Abstract
The sample was drawn from the archival psychological records of a tertiary medical center between l988 and 1991. Patients ranged in age from 14 to 84 years, with a mean age of 31 years. A history of sexual abuse was noted in 17.1 percent of females and 3.1 percent of males. A file was included in the sample if it contained a completed MMPI. To be included in the sexually abused group, patients either explicitly stated they were sexually abused or recounted an incident involving sexual activity they experienced as a child. Sexual abuse survivors were more frequently characterized by higher scores on Psychopathic Deviate and Schizophrenia scales of the MMPI. This finding likely represented high levels of interpersonal discord and social alienation. Within the sexually abused sample, more psychopathology was associated with male-to-male abuse, and more social discomfort was evident with abuse onset between 6 and 11 years of age. Results are discussed in terms of attributional processes associated with the abuse experience and implications for future research. 20 references, 1 note, 4 tables, and 2 figures