NCJ Number
186988
Journal
Aggression and Violent Behavior Volume: 6 Issue: 1 Dated: January-February 2001 Pages: 55-78
Editor(s)
Vincent B. Van Hasselt,
Michel Hersen
Date Published
2001
Length
24 pages
Annotation
Despite the increasing awareness of sexual victimization involving males, factors such as stigma of homosexuality and male ethic of self-reliance continue to contribute to the under-reporting of these cases.
Abstract
Nonetheless, there appears to be growing recognition of male sexual abuse as a serious problem with potentially numerous debilitating consequences, and the clinical and research literature contains several articles on issues pertaining to males who have experienced sexual abuse during childhood. The authors review some of the recent literature on short-term and long-term effects commonly found among sexually abused males. These effects, which include depression, self-blame, low self-esteem, anger, anxiety, and sexuality problems, are also compared with findings commonly reported among sexually abused females. In addition to sexual abuse effects, the authors review a number of important sexual abuse characteristics, such as age of abuse onset, duration of abuse, and nature of the sexual activity. They also consider the relationship of these characteristics to later psychological functioning and explore gender similarities and differences. Implications of the research findings with regard to treatment interventions are briefly discussed. 87 references