Sexual trauma and depression in African‐American women who smoke crack cocaine

The purpose of this descriptive study was to characterize five mutually exclusive groups of female crack cocaine abusers: (1) women with no history of sexual trauma, (2) women who had been sexually traumatized by a stranger (raped), (3) women who had been sexually traumatized by someone they knew but not a family member (date raped, molested, etc.), (4) women who had experienced sexual trauma by a family member (incest), and (5) women who experienced sexual trauma from a stranger and from a family member. Using a convenience sample of 208 African‐American women with a history of crack smoking, participants were interviewed for 2 to 4 hr and asked a variety of questions about their health, relationships, sexuality, and drug use. Sixty‐one percent (127) reported at least one sexually traumatic sexual event during their lives, with 67% of the 127 women experiencing sexual trauma before the age of 16. Women who experienced sexual trauma by a family member had significantly higher depression scores [as measured by the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)] than women who had been traumatized by both a stranger (rape) and a male family member (incest).

Key words:

• cocaine
• depression
• sexual trauma
• African American
• women

Notes

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109.

University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195.

University of Detroit Mercy, Detroit, Michigan.

To whom correspondence should be addressed at University of Michigan Substance Abuse Research Center, 400 North Ingalls, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Carol Boyd

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