Prevalence, Characteristics, and Associations of Sexual Abuse with Sociodemographics and Consensual Sex in a Population-Based Sample of Swedish Adolescents

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate lifetime prevalence and characteristics of self-reported child sexual abuse and associations between child sexual abuse, gender, sociodemographic data, and consensual sexual experiences. A questionnaire was completed by 4,339 Swedish high school seniors. Three categories of child sexual abuse were studied: noncontact, contact without penetration, and penetrating child sexual abuse. Penetrating child sexual abuse was correlated with the most severe abuse characteristics. Students reporting child sexual abuse, especially penetrating child sexual abuse, were more likely to not be living with both parents, to have parents with lower socioeconomic status, and to have their first consensual intercourse at a young age. The study showed that distinct categories of child sexual abuse must be employed since each category shows a specific pattern concerning abuse characteristics, sociodemographics, and consensual sex.

Sexual abuse and associations with psychosocial aspects of health. A population-based study with Swedish adolescents

“…The measures were selected on the basis of having been found to be related with sexual abuse or psychosocial health factors in the present study or in our previous studies (27,33). The variables were:…”

Immaterial Boys? A Large-Scale Exploration of Gender-Based Differences in Child Sexual Exploitation Service Users

“…Returning to the literature on child sexual abuse, it is well established that males constitute a minority of victims (e.g., Cashmore and Shackel, 2014;Finkelhor, 1994;Priebe and Svedin, 2009;Stoltenborgh et al, 2011). Diverse epidemiological studies into prevalence rates and other studies limited to pre--identified groups of victims have respectively concluded that males are at less risk of abuse than females and that they are in the minority among identified victims i (for a review see, e.g., Brayley, Cockbain & Gibson, 2014;Cashmore and Shackel, 2014;Stoltenborgh et al, 2011).…”

“…Recent years have seen a gradual expansion of the literature on male victims of child sexual abuse in general (see, e.g., Alaggia, 2005;Cashmore and Shackel, 2014;Edelson, 2012;Homma et al, 2012;Priebe and Svedin, 2009;Scrandis and Watt, 2014). Nonetheless, in a recent rapid evidence assessment around child sexual abuse/exploitation, most of the 184 studies covered were found to focus exclusively or overwhelmingly on female victims (Brayley, Cockbain & Gibson, 2014).…”

“…With some notable exceptions (e.g. Priebe and Svedin, 2009;Smallbone and Wortley, 2000), larger analyses of child sexual abuse that have factored in gender as a variable have typically focused on primarily on its relationship to victimisation risk or the consequences of abuse (e.g. Paolucci, Genuis & Violato, 2010;Stoltenborgh et al, 2011).…”

Online or off-line victimisation and psychological well-being: a comparison of sexual-minority and heterosexual youth

“…Previous research has shown that female adolescents report sexual abuse more often than male adolescents [22,23]. Furthermore, gender differences in sexual identity development have been found among sexual-minority youth [24,25].…”