| The current study examined children and families who presented for treatment through Project SAFE (Sexual Abuse Family Education) following childhood sexual abuse. Pre-treatment assessment data were used to develop clusters of participant with significantly differing presentation of symptom outcome following abuse. Four clusters were discovered: (a) a "Highly Distressed" group, whose members had clinically elevated scores on all self- and parent-report measures; (b) a "Problem Behaviors" group, whose members had scores within the normal range for self-report measures and elevated scores on all parent-report measures; (c) a "Subclinical" group, whose participants had scores below the mean and below cut-off scores for all self- and parent-report measures; and (d) a "Self-Reported Distress" group, whose members had elevated scores on self-report measures and scores below clinical cut-offs for all parent-report measures.; These clusters were then used in a series of analyses to determine which personal (e.g., age, gender), familial (e.g., parental mental health, family income), and abuse-specific (e.g., severity, duration) factors were related to cluster membership. Results indicate that attributions regarding the abuse, parental mental health and depression, and severity of abuse differentiated the clusters. Finally, regression analyses were conducted to examine which, if any, of these factors were related to change scores following treatment. No significant findings were found for post-treatment analyses. Recommendations for future research and clinical practice are provided. |
