Subtypes of psychiatric inpatient women who have been sexually abused.

The sexual abuse histories of 171 women admitted to a psychiatric inpatient service revealed that 40.3% had a positive history of sexual abuse. The DSM-III diagnoses made on discharge were not related to presence of abuse, age of abuse onset, duration and frequency of abuse, or relationship of the victim to the perpetrator. However, the diagnosis of personality disorder was associated with greater invasiveness of sexual abuse. Cluster analysis of the MMPIs provided by these women revealed four clusters. Membership in the more disturbed cluster was associated with a history of sexual abuse, but not with invasiveness, age of onset, relationship to the perpetrator, or duration and frequency of abuse. The implications of these findings for the role of mitigating factors, such as coping style and adaptation to stress, are discussed.