Childhood Sexual and Physical Abuse and Adult Self-Harm and Suicidal Behaviour: A Literature Review

Abstract

This article reviews the link between childhood sexual and/or physical abuse and adult self-harm, suicidal ideation, and suicidal attempt from 1988 to 1998 in the clinical literature. Despite the methodological and definitional concerns, empirical studies have generally demonstrated more reports of self-harm, suicidal ideation, and suicidal behaviour in clinical and community populations of adults who report sexual and/or physical abuse in childhood than in comparison groups who do not report abuse. Implications for practice include the identification of populations at risk for self-harm or suicide and routine inquiry of abuse histories on admission. Further research into universal definitions of the key terms, standardized measurements of the variables, and longitudinal studies is required.