ASSESSING CHILD MALTREATMENT

Abstract

Comments on the article by J. Brown et al (see record 1999-15347-009) in which a history of sexual abuse was found to specifically impart a greater risk of depression and suicidality in adolescence and young adulthood. The present author notes that the sample size used in the Brown et al study was insufficient to look meaningfully at the relationships of the 2 other forms of childhood maltreatment (neglect and physical abuse) which were also being investigated to depressive disorders and suicidality, given the confidence intervals reported for these associations. It is also argued that Brown et al did not comment on why there was not a longitudinal assessment of self-reported maltreatment in their cohort, despite the prospective design of their study. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2005 APA, all rights reserved).