NCJ Number
111896
Journal
Child Abuse and Neglect Volume: 12 Issue: 2 Dated: (1988) Pages: 219-229
Date Published
1988
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This study examined 47 boys, aged 4 to 13, who were treated in the Support Program for Abuse-Reactive Kids (SPARK) at the Children's International Institute in Los Angeles between January 1985 and June 1987 for molesting children younger than themselves.
Abstract
Each of the 47 boys in the study was referred to the SPARK program because of sexualized behaviors which concerned an adult. A thorough evaluation and assessment was completed on each child and the parents on intake. Four criteria were used to isolate the sample. The subjects included children who acted in a sexual way with another child, used force or coercion to obtain participation of the other child, or victimized a child too young to realize an act of sexual violation. An age difference of at least 2 years and a pattern of sexually overt behavior in the child's history also were amont the other criteria used to select the study sample. Coercion was involved in all the cases in this study. Prior to their own sexually abusive behaviors, 49 percent of the subjects had been sexually abused, and 19 percent physically abused. The children all knew the people who victimized them, and these male child perpetrators all knew the children they molested. In 47 percent of the cases, the sexual abuse was of a sibling. The average number of victims of these children was 2.1, with a range of 1 to 7. The mean age at the time of perpetration was 8 years, 9 months. The mean age of the victims was 6 years, 9 months. There was a history of sexual and physical abuse in the majority of the families of these children, as well as a history of substance abuse. This population is compared to adolescent perpetrators. Graphs, tabular data, and 16 references. (Author abstract modified)