The Zurich Study. XVII. Sexual abuse in childhood. Frequency and relevance for adult morbidity data of a longitudinal epidemiological study.

In the course of a 10-year longitudinal investigation of young Swiss adults, childhood sexual abuse was assessed at the age of 30 years. It was reported by 11.5% of women and by 3.5% of men; 56% of the females had been abused by relatives (none of the males), 20% by fathers. Abuse cases tended to be more depressed and anxious; they reported more suicide attempts and more sexual problems than controls and also slightly more psychiatric symptoms and neuroticism. Childhood familial risk factors were more frequent for abuse cases than for controls. Depression at adult age was more strongly connected with early familial risk factors than with early sexual abuse.