NCJ Number
111895
Journal
Child Abuse and Neglect Volume: 12 Issue: 2 Dated: (1988) Pages: 209-218
Date Published
1988
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This study reports on a study of 1,784 male and female undergraduate students at a university in a mid-Atlantic State concerning sexual encounters which occurred when the subjects were less than age 13 with another child age 15 or younger.
Abstract
Most of the students came from upper middle-class economic backgrounds. Average age of the subjects was 19.2 years, 61 percent were female, 39 percent were male, and 99 percent were single. Eighty-nine percent of the subjects were white, 6 percent black, 4 percent Asian, and 1 percent of other races. Linear structural equation modeling is employed to analyze which characteristics of the sexual encounters with other children were associated with more positive or negative responses by subjects. Approximately 42 percent of the subjects reported a childhood sexual encounter with another child. Most encounters involved sexual kissing or exposing of genitalia, and generally occurred with a friend. High levels of coercion from the other child to gain the subject's cooperation, homosexual encounters, and encounters with those other than friends, predicted a more negative response. The type of sexual activity was not associated with response. Subjects who experienced a high level of coercion from another child reacted to their sexual encounter similarly to other subjects who had a sexual encounter with an adult. Subjects who experienced low levels of coercion rated their encounter with a child more positively. Tabular data and 8 references. (Author abstract modified)