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Sexual Abuse in Childhood Tied To Schizophrenia

(11/10/2010)

By Fredrik Joelving
Reuters
November 2, 2010

Researchers in Australia have found that sexually abused children are at an increased risk of developing schizophrenia later in life. Sexual assaults more than doubled the chances that a child would develop schizophrenia as an adult, and the risk was higher if there were multiple perpetrators or if the events took place during the early teenage years. The study found that one in five adults raped between the ages of 13 and 15 developed schizophrenia or other psychotic illnesses.

View the article: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6A160O20101102

Keywords: sexual abuse, childhood, schizophrenia

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