NCJ Number
145807
Journal
Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Volume: 32 Issue: 5 Dated: (September 1993) Pages: 911-919
Date Published
1993
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This study used a sample of 3,000 women randomly selected from electoral rolls in the Dunedin and Otago areas of New Zealand to assess the prevalence and nature of childhood sexual abuse.
Abstract
A two-stage study design was employed that involved mail questionnaires and interviews with a subsample of the 3,000 women. The mail questionnaire was presented as being concerned with women's health and well-being but not specifically about childhood sexual abuse. Questions on general health, mental health, demographics, and self-esteem were included, as well as a section on experiences of child and adult abuse. Interviews consisted of a psychiatric diagnostic interview, a detailed interview schedule, structured measures of interpersonal relationships, and an abuse interview. Nearly one in three women reported having one or more unwanted sexual experiences before 16 years of age. About 70 percent of these experiences involved genital contact or more severe abuse, and 12 percent of those abused were subjected to sexual intercourse. Abusers were generally known to the victims, being family members in 38.3 percent of cases and acquaintances in another 46.3 percent. Stranger abuse accounted for 15 percent of all abuse experiences. Most abusers were young men, abuse disclosure was infrequent, and only 7 percent of all abuse was ever officially reported. Abuse prevalence rates showed no urban/rural differences, no cohort effect with subject age, and no age differences in disclosure rates. It is concluded that child sexual abuse is common, serious, and infrequently reported; that the abuser is usually known to the child; and that preadolescent girls are at greatest risk. 37 references, 1 table, and 5 figures