Mullen P E, Martin J L, Anderson J C, Romans S E, Herbison G P
Monash University, Australia.
Br J Psychiatry. 1993 Dec;163:721-32. doi: 10.1192/bjp.163.6.721.
The relationship between childhood sexual abuse and mental health in adult life was investigated in a random community sample of women. There was a positive correlation between reporting abuse and greater levels of psychopathology on a range of measures. Substance abuse and suicidal behaviour were also more commonly reported by the abused group. Childhood sexual abuse was more frequent in women from disrupted homes as well as in those who had been exposed to inadequate parenting or physical abuse. While elements in the individual's childhood which increased the risks of sexual abuse were also directly associated to higher rates of adult psychopathology, abuse emerged from logistic regression as a direct contributor to adult psychopathology. Severity of abuse reported was related to the degree of adult psychopathology. The overlap between the possible effects of sexual abuse and the effects of the matrix of disadvantage from which it so often emerges were, however, so considerable as to raise doubts about how often, in practice, it operates as an independent causal element. Further, many of those reporting childhood sexual abuse did not show a measurable long-term impairment of their mental health. Abuse correlated with an increased risk for a range of mental health problems, but in most cases its effects could only be understood in relationship to the context from which it emerged.
在一个随机抽取的女性社区样本中，对童年期性虐待与成年后心理健康之间的关系进行了调查。在一系列测量指标上，报告遭受过虐待与更严重的精神病理学水平之间存在正相关。滥用药物和自杀行为在受虐组中也更常被报告。童年期性虐待在家庭破裂的女性以及那些曾经历不适当养育或身体虐待的女性中更为常见。虽然个体童年中增加性虐待风险的因素也与成年后更高的精神病理学发生率直接相关，但在逻辑回归分析中，虐待被证明是成年后精神病理学的直接促成因素。报告的虐待严重程度与成年后精神病理学的程度相关。然而，性虐待可能产生的影响与它常常出现的不利环境的影响之间的重叠如此之大，以至于让人怀疑在实际情况中，它作为一个独立的因果因素起作用的频率有多高。此外，许多报告童年期性虐待的人并未表现出可测量的长期心理健康损害。虐待与一系列心理健康问题的风险增加相关，但在大多数情况下，其影响只有结合其出现的背景才能理解。
