NCJ Number
111921
Journal
Violence and Victims Volume: 2 Issue: 4 Dated: (Winter 1987) Pages: 241-253
Date Published
1987
Length
13 pages
Annotation
This study identifies methodological and definitional issues as being critical to the study of childhood sexual victimization, particularly among males.
Abstract
Little information exists on the childhood sexual victimization of males as it occurs in nonclinical samples. Employing a broad funnel-type of questionnaire methodology, the current study examined childhood sexual victimization in 2 samples of college men consisting of 253 and 329 students from a large midwestern and southeastern university, respectively. There was general consistency between the two samples in the prevalence and descriptive features of the abuse. However, different definitions of abuse generated markedly different outcomes in the data. Depending on the definition utilized, prevalence rates varied from 4 percent to 24 percent of the samples being defined as 'abused.' Moreover, the quality of experiences varied by definition. Using less restrictive defintions, the experienced reported by men were distinctively different from those reported in studies of college women or clinical samples of boys. (Author abstract)