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The British Journal of Psychiatry (2002) 181: 153-157
© 2002 The Royal College of Psychiatrists

Sexual molestation of males: associations with psychological disturbance

MICHAEL KING, PhD

Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences, Royal Free and University College Medical School, London

ADRIAN COXELL, DClinPsy

Academic Centre, West London Mental Health NHS Trust

GILLIAN MEZEY, FRCPsych

Section of Forensic Psychiatry, St George's Hospital Medical School, London

Correspondence: Michael King, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences, Royal Free and University College Medical School, Royal Free Campus, Rowland Hill Street, London NW3 2PF, UK. E-mail: m.king{at}rfc.ucl.ac.uk

Declaration of interest None.

Background There are no epidemiological data in Europe on associations between sexual molestation in males and psychological disturbance.

Aims To investigate whether sexual molestation in males is a significant predictor of psychological disturbance.

Method We recruited men attending general practice and genitourinary medicine services. Participants took part in a computerised interview about sexual molestation as children or adults. We ranked reported sexual experiences into three categories of decreasing severity. Each category was treated as an independent predictor in a multivariate analysis predicting different types of psychological disturbance.

Results Men who reported child sexual abuse were more likely to report any type of psychological disturbance. Men who reported sexual molestation in adulthood were 1.7 (1.0-2.8) times more likely to have experienced a psychological disorder, but self-harm was the single most likely problem to occur (odds ratio=2.6, range=1.3-5.2). Men reporting ‘consenting’ sexual experiences when aged under 16 years also were more likely to report acts of self-harm (odds ratio=1.7, range=0-2.8).

Conclusions Sexual abuse as a child or adult is associated with later psychological problems. All forms of sexual molestation were predictive of deliberate self-harming behaviour in men.


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