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The Christchurch Civic
Creche Case |
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John Read’s glib use (Letters, November
16) of a “New Zealand survey published in the Lancet and the British Journal
of Psychiatry” demands closer scrutiny. The survey data was collected by
the notoriously unreliable method of retrospective self-reporting. In total:
2250 questionnaires were distributed; 1376 usable questionnaires were
returned; 252 respondents reported some sort of childhood sexual abuse. When
weighted back to the original sample, the prevalence was 32 percent. The researchers distinguished
between non-contact abuse (exposure, indecent suggestions, pornography, etc),
non-genital contact (touching of breasts, inappropriate kissing, etc),
genital contact, attempted intercourse and intercourse. They found no
relationship between non-contact and non-genital sexual abuse in childhood
and poor mental health in adulthood. But, even among women seriously sexually
abused in childhood, poor mental health was the exception rather than the
rule; 75 percent of victims of serious sexual abuse were found to be mentally
healthy adults. Poor mental health was more common in women from
dysfunctional families who had experienced some combination of serious
physical, emotional or sexual abuse. No clear relationship was found
between the type of abuse suffered and the symptoms displayed. The
researchers concluded: “The message for therapists is that when evaluating
the relevance of childhood abuse to beware of exclusive, or potentially
exaggerated focus on the traumas of sexual abuse which may obscure both the
relevance of other forms of abuse and the unfolding of other damaging
developmental influences.” Read’s figures for psychiatric
admissions and suicidal behaviour are based on data from 32 women. As the
survey’s statistical analysis shows, findings based on such a small sample
cannot be applied to the wider population with any degree of precision. |
