SynthesisTrauma, violence & abuse2023
Disentangling the Associations Between Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Child Sexual Abuse: A Systematic Review.
Synthesis in Trauma, violence & abuse, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 30 citations in OpenAlex.
- Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder adult comorbidity: a systematic review.Systematic reviews · 2025Pooled it
- Childhood Maltreatment and Mental Health Problems: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Quasi-Experimental Studies.The American journal of psychiatry · 2023Pooled it
- Child Sexual Abuse Material Users on the Darknet: Psychiatric Morbidities Related to Offence Behavior.Sexual abuse : a journal of research and treatment · 2026Article
- Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in India: epidemiology, diagnostic inequities, treatment gaps, and public mental health implications.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Review
- Early life adversity and adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): Pathways to persistence and adult susceptibility.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2025Review
- A Narrative Review of Outcomes, Comorbidities, and Alternative Behavioral Interventions in Adolescent and Adult Women with ADHD.International journal of women's health · 2025Review
- Neurodivergence, intersectionality, and eating disorders: a lived experience-led narrative review.Journal of eating disorders · 2024Review
- A systematic meta-review of systematic reviews on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists · 2023Review
- Relationship between hair cortisol concentrations and cognitive functioning in adolescents with ADHD.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2023Article
- Sexual Violence against Children with Disabilities: A Danish National Birth Cohort Prospective Study.Scandinavian journal of child and adolescent psychiatry and psychology · 2023Article
- Examining the attitudes of sexually abused and non-abused individuals towards marriage in terms of ambivalent sexism.PloS one · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAn association between child sexual abuse (CSA) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has been documented. However, the temporal relationship between these problems and the roles of trauma-related symptoms or other forms of maltreatment remain unclear. This review aims to synthesize available research on CSA and ADHD, assess the methodological quality of the available research, and recommend future areas of inquiry.
methodsStudies were searched in five databases including Medline and PsycINFO. Following a title and abstract screening, 151 full texts were reviewed and 28 were included. Inclusion criteria were sexual abuse occurred before 18 years old, published quantitative studies documenting at least a bivariate association between CSA and ADHD, and published in the past 5 years for dissertations/theses, in French or English. The methodological quality of studies was systematically assessed.
resultsMost studies identified a significant association between CSA and ADHD; most studies conceptualized CSA as a precursor of ADHD, but only one study had a longitudinal design. The quality of the studies varied greatly with main limitations being the lack of (i) longitudinal designs, (ii) rigorous multimethod/ multiinformant assessments of CSA and ADHD, and (iii) control for two major confounders: trauma-related symptoms and other forms of child maltreatment. DISCUSSION: Given the lack of longitudinal studies, the directionality of the association remains unclear. The confounding role of other maltreatment forms and trauma-related symptoms also remains mostly unaddressed. Rigorous studies are needed to untangle the association between CSA and ADHD.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.