A sample of 2,178 college students was randomly selected from nine universities. The students were asked to fill out a questionnaire concerning their experience of ten specific acts of sexual abuse at three levels of severity. The second part of the questionnaire included three items of basic characteristics of sexual abuse experiences (gender of victim, location, and age when victimized) and three items of characteristics of abuser (age, gender, and relation to victim). The results showed that the family interaction variables are good predictors for the occurrence of sexual abuse. However, the location, gender of the victim, age of the victim and the abuser, and the relationship of the abuser were found to be the risk factors associated with the severity of abuse. Tables, references