Identifying PTSD and Complex PTSD Profiles in Child Victims of Sexual Abuse.

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Title: Identifying PTSD and Complex PTSD Profiles in Child Victims of Sexual Abuse.
Authors: Hébert, Martine1 hebert.m@uqam.ca, Amédée, Laetitia Mélissande1, Tremblay-Perreault, Amélie1
Source: Journal of Child Sexual Abuse. Jul/Aug2025, Vol. 34 Issue 5/6, p520-538. 19p.
Subject Terms: *Parents, *Psychological resilience, *Interpersonal relations, *Children, Child sexual abuse & psychology, Diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder, Post-traumatic stress disorder, Risk assessment, Research funding, Questionnaires, Descriptive statistics, Chi-squared test, Crime victims, Conceptual structures, Analysis of variance, Data analysis software
Geographic Terms: Québec (Province)
Abstract: Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms are frequent in child victims of sexual abuse. Authors argued that early trauma could lead to alterations in development that go far beyond the primary symptoms of PTSD and have proposed that Complex PTSD (C-PTSD) involving alterations in attachment, biology, affect regulation, consciousness, behavioral regulation, cognition, and self-concept, may better describe children experiencing chronic trauma at an early developmental stage. The aim of the study was to disentangle the diversity of profiles in child victims of sexual abuse based on the C-PTSD framework. Latent profile analysis was used to identify distinct subgroups in a sample of 861 sexually abused children aged 6 to 12. Children and their non-offending parents completed questionnaires evaluating PTSD symptoms and measures documenting alterations in development characteristics of C-PTSD. Latent profile analysis identified a best-fitting model consisting of three profiles: PTSD (40.7% of children), Resilient (32.8% of children), and C-PTSD (26.5% of children). Compared to others, children in the C-PTSD profile were more likely to have experienced more forms of interpersonal trauma and showed impairments in several domains. Findings underscore the importance of tailoring interventions to efficiently address the needs of young victims of sexual trauma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Journal of Child Sexual Abuse is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Database: Education Research Complete
Full text is not displayed to guests.
Description
Abstract:Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms are frequent in child victims of sexual abuse. Authors argued that early trauma could lead to alterations in development that go far beyond the primary symptoms of PTSD and have proposed that Complex PTSD (C-PTSD) involving alterations in attachment, biology, affect regulation, consciousness, behavioral regulation, cognition, and self-concept, may better describe children experiencing chronic trauma at an early developmental stage. The aim of the study was to disentangle the diversity of profiles in child victims of sexual abuse based on the C-PTSD framework. Latent profile analysis was used to identify distinct subgroups in a sample of 861 sexually abused children aged 6 to 12. Children and their non-offending parents completed questionnaires evaluating PTSD symptoms and measures documenting alterations in development characteristics of C-PTSD. Latent profile analysis identified a best-fitting model consisting of three profiles: PTSD (40.7% of children), Resilient (32.8% of children), and C-PTSD (26.5% of children). Compared to others, children in the C-PTSD profile were more likely to have experienced more forms of interpersonal trauma and showed impairments in several domains. Findings underscore the importance of tailoring interventions to efficiently address the needs of young victims of sexual trauma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
ISSN:10538712
DOI:10.1080/10538712.2024.2403996