NCJ Number
75267
Date Published
1979
Length
16 pages
Annotation
Seven hundred ninety-five undergraduate students at six New England colleges were surveyed concerning their childhood sexual experiences through questionnaires completed in social sciences classes.
Abstract
A total of 19 percent of the women responding to the questionnaire indicated a sexual victimization experience as a child. Of this group, 11 percent were under 12 years of age and had an experience with an adult aged 18 or over. Six percent had an experience with another child at least 5 years older when they were less than 12 years old. Four percent had a sexual experience with an adult at least 10 years older while between the ages of 13 and 16. Most of the victimizations were by older males within the respondents' intimate social network rather than by strangers. Sexual fondling was the most frequent type of experience; intercourse was infrequent. About 20 percent of the incidents were exhibitionistic. Force in some form was used in about 55 percent of the incidents. A large number of males also reported childhood sexual victimization experiences, primarily homosexual in nature. Incident characteristics among boys were similar to those reported by females. Low income girls with stepfathers, absent or inaccessible mothers, mothers with educational levels lower than their fathers, or mothers who were oppressed by fathers were more likely to have been victimized. Figures, tabular data, and 18 references are included.