Longitudinal Study of the Psychological Effects of Sexual Abuse in African American Girls in Foster Care and Those Who Remain Home

This study longitudinally examined the effects of foster care placement versus remaining at home upon the psychological functioning of 64 African-American, sexually abused girls aged 5-16 years. The children were intitially evlauted with a multi-method assessment protocal within six months following report of the abuse and then reevaluated approximately one year later. The findings indicate that the group as a whole showed a decline in affective distress and depression. However, the children continued to show disturbed perceptions of relationships and high levels of stress relative to their adaptive coping skills. The caregivers continued to rate the children as showing many behavioral problems, low social competence, considerable sexual abuse-related anxiety and sexual acting-out behavior. Overall, there were no significant differences in the psychological functioning of the girls who remained at home and those who were placed in foster care. In supplementary, cross-sectional analyses involving 24 additional subjects, several maternal variables were found to be related to the child's adaptation.