Search

Development of a 25-item Psychological Maltreatment Inventory, based on five categories of psychological maltreatment found in the literature on child development, is described. Two major factors emerged from a factor analytic study of the responses of 118 clinical outpatients. Reported childhood experiences of Emotional Neglect and Hostile Rejection were related to several measures of psychological dysfunction among adult outpatients.

Among 43 women with panic disorder (38 with agoraphobia), 23 reported histories of childhood sexual abuse associated with high incidence of other early adverse experiences. The finding that subjects reporting childhood sexual and physical abuse were more likely to receive an Axis II diagnosis than those who did not confirms prior work.