One hundred twenty-nine women with previously documented histories
of sexual victimization in childhood were interviewed and asked
detailed questions about their abuse histories to answer the question
"Do people actually forget traumatic events such as child sexual
abuse, and if so, how common is such forgetting?" A large proportion
of the women (38%) did not recall the abuse that had been reported 17
years earlier. Women who were younger at the time of the abuse and
those who were molested by someone they knew were more likely to have
no recall of the abuse. The implications for research and practice are
discussed. Long periods with no memory of abuse should not be regarded
as evidence that the abuse did not occur.