Paper Title
Reports of childhood sexual abuse by adolescents and young adults: Stability over time
Keywords
- childhood sexual abuse (csa)
- csa reporting
- adolescents
- young adults
- self-report questionnaires
- stability of reporting
- inconsistent reporting
- risk measures
- urban healthcare
- trauma assessment
- psychological impact
- longitudinal study
- abuse disclosure
- retrospective reporting
- sexual trauma
- mental health
- victimization
- health surveys
- research methodology
- accuracy in reporting
Article Type
Research Article
Journal
Research Impact Tools
Publication Info
Volume: 39 | Issue: 4 | Pages: 259–263
Published On
March, 2002
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Abstract
The consistency of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) reporting was explored in this study. Two‐hundred seventeen adolescents and young adults (ages 14–24) enrolled in urban health care clinics completed self‐report questionnaires assessing CSA and other problem behaviors at enrollment and at 7 months. Results indicated that the stability of CSA self‐report at two time points was poor (58% consistent nonreporters of CSA, 20% consistent reporters, 22% inconsistent reporters). Consistent and inconsistent reporters were differentiated on risk measures. Adolescents who endorsed more items from the CSA scale were five times more likely to be consistent reporters. In sum, adolescent CSA reporting was quite inconsistent over time. Using multi‐item scales and assessing CSA at two time points enhances accuracy of reporting.
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