NCJ Number
148158
Journal
Child Abuse and Neglect Volume: 18 Issue: 4 Dated: (April 1994) Pages: 331- 340
Date Published
1994
Length
10 pages
Annotation
Finkelhor's (1979) Risk Factor Checklist was assessed as a predictor of childhood sexual abuse.
Abstract
Subjects were 411 female students, mean age 19.3 years, attending Illinois State University. Overall 100 (24.3 percent) indicated that they had been sexually abused. Eight items in the checklist were supposed to indicate increased risk: 1) having a stepfather; 2) separation from mother; 3) lack of closeness to mother; 4) low education of mother; 5) family income less than $10,000; 6) lack of physical affection from father; 7 Mother sexually punitive; and 8) having no more than two good friends. Only one of these items, low family income, proved predictive. The authors, therefore, advise caution in trying to predict the presence of sexual abuse. 1 table, 27 references