History of child sexual abuse and acting out among adolescents in residential treatment

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Adolescents in residential treatment with reported histories of CSA and diagnoses of PTSD exhibit significant acting out behaviors, especially during the evening. This study sought to evaluate whether child sexually abused (CSA) adolescents exhibiting significant psychopathology in residential treatment differed from non-abused peers in terms of frequency and time of acting out, number of total diagnoses, rates of PTSD diagnoses, and gender differences in behavior. The time of acting out incidents among 78 adolescents with reports of child sexual abuse (CSA) was compared to the timing of incidents among adolescents not reported to have been abused. Information was obtained from previously collected retrospective observations. Reliability of information collected was assessed by conducting a reliability study and reviewing a select number of records of subjects. An Independent Samples t-test analysis was performed to test the hypothesis that adolescents with reports of CSA experience more incidents during the evening than their non-CSA counterparts. Significant findings revealed higher total co-morbid diagnoses, higher diagnoses of PTSD, and gender differences in behavior shown. However, no significant group differences in frequency or time of acting out were found. The findings contribute to a better understanding of the function of acting out, as well as to creating appropriate prevention and treatment strategies to help reduce incidents and improve adolescent well-being.

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	History of child sexual abuse and acting out among adolescents in residential treatment	2019-04-09	Public	Download