Child Abuse Negl. 1993 Sep-Oct;17(5):623-40.
The combined effects of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse during
childhood: long-term health consequences for women.
Moeller TP, Bachmann GA, Moeller JR.
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Medicine and
Dentistry of New Jersey, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick.
The long-term health effects of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse during
childhood were studied in a sample of 668 middle class females in a
gynecologic practice who responded to a self-administered, anonymous
questionnaire covering demographic information, family history, physical and
psychological health, as well as stressful events and abusive experiences as
a child. Half (53%) of the sample reported childhood abuse, with 28.9%
recounting exposure to one type of abuse, 18.7% to two types of abuse, and
5.4% to all three types of abuse. In comparison to women not abused during
childhood, the abused reported significantly more hospitalizations for
illnesses, a greater number of physical and psychological problems, and
lower ratings of their overall health. The greater the number of childhood
abuses, the poorer one's adult health and the more likely one was to have
experienced abuse as an adult. Thus, in addition to the deleterious
psychological consequences of abuse described in the literature, physical
health also appears to be adversely affected in women abused as children.
