Social and emotional outcomes of child sexual abuse: a clinical sample in Turkey

Childhood sexual abuse is a traumatic life event that may cause psychiatric disorders such as posttraumatic stress disorder and depression. During 2003-2004, 20 sexually abused children were referred to the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Clinic of Ege University in Izmir, Turkey. Two years later, the psychological adjustment of these children ( M age = 9.4 years, SD = 3.63 years, range = 5 to 16 years) is evaluated. Semistructured interviews, a form for the sociodemographic characteristics, are used for evaluations by a child psychiatrist who is blind to the first evaluation. It is determined that sexually abused children have more psychiatric disorders within the first year than 2 years later. However, some behavior problems occur at both short-term and long-term follow-ups.