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Child Sexual Abuse among a Representative Sample of Quebec High School Students: Prevalence and Association with Mental Health Problems and Health-Risk Behaviors

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of child sexual abuse in a representative sample of Quebec high school youths and document its associations with mental health problems and health-risk behaviors. METHOD: Data were drawn from the Quebec Youths’ Romantic Relationsh...

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Autores principales: Hébert, Martine, Amédée, Laetitia Mélissande, Blais, Martin, Gauthier-Duchesne, Amélie
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: SAGE Publications 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6935828/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31299163
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0706743719861387
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author Hébert, Martine
Amédée, Laetitia Mélissande
Blais, Martin
Gauthier-Duchesne, Amélie
author_facet Hébert, Martine
Amédée, Laetitia Mélissande
Blais, Martin
Gauthier-Duchesne, Amélie
author_sort Hébert, Martine
collection PubMed
description OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of child sexual abuse in a representative sample of Quebec high school youths and document its associations with mental health problems and health-risk behaviors. METHOD: Data were drawn from the Quebec Youths’ Romantic Relationships Survey, which involved a one-stage stratified cluster sampling of 34 Quebec high schools from Grades 10 to 12. A total of 8,194 youths (mean age = 15.35) were recruited. The survey assessed child sexual abuse, mental health problems (psychological distress, post-traumatic stress symptoms, suicidality), health services utilization, and health-risk behaviors (alcohol, drug, and cannabis use). Gender-stratified multivariate analyses were used to assess associations between child sexual abuse and mental health problems and health-risk behaviors while controlling for confounding demographic variables and other forms of child maltreatment experienced in childhood. RESULTS: A total of 14.9% of girls and 3.9% of boys reported having experienced child sexual abuse. Child sexual abuse was independently associated with an increased risk of psychological distress, greater health services utilization, and increased health-risk behaviors, after controlling for other forms of childhood maltreatment experienced. CONCLUSIONS: Child sexual abuse is prevalent among youths in Quebec and is associated with an increased risk of a host of negative consequences. Continued efforts in the development of early detection strategies as well as prevention and intervention programs are warranted.
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spelling pubmed-69358282020-02-07 Child Sexual Abuse among a Representative Sample of Quebec High School Students: Prevalence and Association with Mental Health Problems and Health-Risk Behaviors Hébert, Martine Amédée, Laetitia Mélissande Blais, Martin Gauthier-Duchesne, Amélie Can J Psychiatry Original Research OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of child sexual abuse in a representative sample of Quebec high school youths and document its associations with mental health problems and health-risk behaviors. METHOD: Data were drawn from the Quebec Youths’ Romantic Relationships Survey, which involved a one-stage stratified cluster sampling of 34 Quebec high schools from Grades 10 to 12. A total of 8,194 youths (mean age = 15.35) were recruited. The survey assessed child sexual abuse, mental health problems (psychological distress, post-traumatic stress symptoms, suicidality), health services utilization, and health-risk behaviors (alcohol, drug, and cannabis use). Gender-stratified multivariate analyses were used to assess associations between child sexual abuse and mental health problems and health-risk behaviors while controlling for confounding demographic variables and other forms of child maltreatment experienced in childhood. RESULTS: A total of 14.9% of girls and 3.9% of boys reported having experienced child sexual abuse. Child sexual abuse was independently associated with an increased risk of psychological distress, greater health services utilization, and increased health-risk behaviors, after controlling for other forms of childhood maltreatment experienced. CONCLUSIONS: Child sexual abuse is prevalent among youths in Quebec and is associated with an increased risk of a host of negative consequences. Continued efforts in the development of early detection strategies as well as prevention and intervention programs are warranted. SAGE Publications 2019-07-12 2019-12 /pmc/articles/PMC6935828/ /pubmed/31299163 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0706743719861387 Text en © The Author(s) 2019 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
spellingShingle Original Research
Hébert, Martine
Amédée, Laetitia Mélissande
Blais, Martin
Gauthier-Duchesne, Amélie
Child Sexual Abuse among a Representative Sample of Quebec High School Students: Prevalence and Association with Mental Health Problems and Health-Risk Behaviors
title Child Sexual Abuse among a Representative Sample of Quebec High School Students: Prevalence and Association with Mental Health Problems and Health-Risk Behaviors
title_full Child Sexual Abuse among a Representative Sample of Quebec High School Students: Prevalence and Association with Mental Health Problems and Health-Risk Behaviors
title_fullStr Child Sexual Abuse among a Representative Sample of Quebec High School Students: Prevalence and Association with Mental Health Problems and Health-Risk Behaviors
title_full_unstemmed Child Sexual Abuse among a Representative Sample of Quebec High School Students: Prevalence and Association with Mental Health Problems and Health-Risk Behaviors
title_short Child Sexual Abuse among a Representative Sample of Quebec High School Students: Prevalence and Association with Mental Health Problems and Health-Risk Behaviors
title_sort child sexual abuse among a representative sample of quebec high school students: prevalence and association with mental health problems and health-risk behaviors
topic Original Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6935828/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31299163
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0706743719861387
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