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Sex Differences in the Experience of Child Sexual Victimization

NCJ Number
152596
Journal
Journal of Family Violence Volume: 9 Issue: 4 Dated: (December 1994) Pages: 357-369
Author(s)
R J R Levesque
Date Published
1994
Length
13 pages
Annotation
Data from 390 cases of child sexual abuse in a large eastern city during 1987-91 formed the basis of an analysis of sex differences in child sexual victimization.
Abstract
The cases involved 303 girls and 87 boys. The analysis focused on three areas that have received considerable research attention: victim-offender relationships, the type and extent of the abuse, and disclosure. Results largely replicated previous research reporting sex differences in terms of victim-offender relationships. Although results also replicated previous findings about sex differences in disclosure patterns, these sex differences were minor compared to similarities in the way most instances of abuse were eventually identified. Some results contradicted earlier findings: girls rather than boys received more physical injuries, violent threats, and the use of force and were more likely than boys to have physically resisted the abuse. Divergences in findings were interpreted in terms of memory biases and social forces operating differently on the sexes. Tables and 54 references (Author abstract modified)