Profiling Children Sexual Abuse in a Sample of University Students: A Study on Characteristic of Victims, Abusers, and Abuse Episodes

Angel Castro, José David Moreno, Berta Maté, Javier Ibáñez-Vidal and Juan Ramón Barrada
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Angel Castro: Facultad de Ciencias Sociales y Humanas, Universidad de Zaragoza, 44003 Teruel, Spain
José David Moreno: Facultad de Ciencias Sociales y Humanas, Universidad de Zaragoza, 44003 Teruel, Spain
Berta Maté: Facultad de Ciencias Sociales y Humanas, Universidad de Zaragoza, 44003 Teruel, Spain
Javier Ibáñez-Vidal: Facultad de Ciencias Sociales y Humanas, Universidad de Zaragoza, 44003 Teruel, Spain
Juan Ramón Barrada: Facultad de Ciencias Sociales y Humanas, Universidad de Zaragoza, 44003 Teruel, Spain

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 9, 1-9

Abstract: Because of its prevalence and its potential negative consequences, child sexual abuse (CSA) is a public health problem in every country in the world. Knowledge of the characteristics of abuse episodes (victim, abuser, relationship between them, type of sexual contact, duration, threat and/or use of force) is essential to specify the contents of intervention programs for the detection and reduction of the negative consequences of CSA. Starting with an initial sample of 1605 university students of both sexes (70.9% women, 29.1% men), aged between 18 and 26 years ( M = 21.1, SD = 2.2), 90 participants who had suffered an episode of CSA up to age 16 were selected (84.4% women, 15.6% men; M age = 21.1, SD = 2.2). It was found that: (1) there was a higher prevalence of CSA among women and that the victims’ average age when they suffered abuse was around 11 years; (2) the abusers were mostly male, close to the victims, and with an average of slightly less than 30 years; and (3) there was a significant proportion (25.6%) of CSA cases with penetration and in which force was used or threatened. These results are relevant, as they show that there is still a noteworthy prevalence of CSA cases on university campuses that needs to be addressed. Knowing the characteristics of these episodes is critical to implementing more effective interventions.

Keywords: children sexual abuse; victims; abusers; episode characteristics; university students (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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