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Shattered Innocence: Child Sexual Abuse Is Yielding Its Dark Secrets to the Cold Light of Research

NCJ Number
108365
Journal
Psychology Today Dated: (February 1987) Pages: 54-58
Author(s)
A Kohn
Date Published
1987
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This article reviews studies on the incidence and characteristics of child sexual abuse as well as the short-term and long-term psychological effects on victims.
Abstract
Several studies indicate that 25-35 percent of all women and 10-16 percent of all men in the United States experienced some form of sexual abuse as children, ranging from sexual fondling to intercourse. Sexual abuse occurs most often between the ages of 9 and 12, and the abuser is typically a male known to the child, often a relative. Often the abuse is repetitive without the use of force. Although children react differently to sexual abuse, typical short-term effects include sleeping and eating disturbances, anger, withdrawal, guilt, anxiety, fear, sexual preoccupation, and physical complaints or problems. Approximately half of the victims of childhood sexual abuse experience long-term dysfunction that includes sexual and social maladjustment, low self-esteem, personality disorders, and physical problems. Men abused as children often become sexual abusers themselves, and women sexually abused as children are apparently vulnerable to sexual abuse as adults due to poor self-image, lack of assertiveness, and the desire to be punished.