Long-term study examines suicide risk following child sexual abuse

An important study from The Children's Hospital at Westmead, examining the relationship between child sexual abuse and suicide has just been released. The research, which commenced in 1988, will assist clinicians in treating abused young people in the future.

The study, published today in the USA journal, Ambulatory Paediatrics, followed a large group of children aged between 4 and 15 years who had presented at one of two specialist Child Protection Units within Sydney. These patients were tracked over a period of nine years to eventually draw a series of interesting conclusions.

One of the most startling conclusions is that the young people in this study who experienced child sexual abuse had a suicide rate which is ten to thirteen times the national Australian rate for this age group. The study also found that almost one third of the abused young people had reported attempted suicide over the period of the study.

Professor Kim Oates, Chief Executive of The Children's Hospital at Westmead who led the study team said, "The findings from this study will be useful to clinicians treating children who have been sexually abused. Until now, little information has been available to clinicians to identify which sexually abused young people may be at an increased risk of suicide."

The influence of family upon an abused young person was a strong factor in their decision to attempt or commit suicide. Those who committed or attempted suicide tended to have experienced serious disruption of family circumstances, and in some cases, negative reaction of their parents to the sexual abuse. These reactions included anger towards the victim, lack of anger towards the perpetrator and denial that the abuse had occurred. This suggests that a child or adolescent's chances to resolve the abuse experience may be limited if a parent is unavailable or reacts in an unsupportive way.

Professor Oates added, "This study may assist clinicians to provide greater support for young people who have been sexually abused, thus reducing this tragic outcome."

Full copies of this paper can be obtained by phoning the contact below or by visiting www.ambpeds.org/journal.cfm

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