This study examines the impact of child sexual molestation on men assaulted as children by Catholic clergy. In-depth interviews were used to conduct a qualitative analysis of how clergy-perpetrated childhood sexual abuse affected the adult psychological and/or psychosocial functioning of nine men. Subjects were selected in coordination with a nationally recognized advocacy group established for victims of clergy abuse, The Survivor Network of those Abused by Priests. The study found that the sexual abuse acted as a developmental insult and resulted in systemic influences throughout the victims' lives. The article concludes with considerations for treatment.

No abstract

Incident reports and prevalence research on sexual assault, conducted in the United States, indicate that men may be at greater risk from sexual victimization than previously realized. These studies support the efforts of mental health professionals in the United Kingdom who have argued that sexual assault of men is an underreported crime which can result in significant biopsychosocial dysfunction. Given the increasing evidence that men are victims of sex crimes, future research studies on the prevalence of sexual assault should include adult males in their samples.

Although preliminary findings suggest that men in the early part of their adulthood are particularly at risk of sexual assault, publications on this type of victimization among college students frequently ignore this population. Administrators in higher education, alerted to the existence of these sexual crimes, are in a unique position to assist potential and actual victims. Through preventative, educational, and theraputic interventions, educators can greatly reduce the incidents of this crime and the traumatic impact that male rape victims often experience.