How Widespread Is Child Sexual Abuse? (From Out of Harm's Way: Readings on Child Sexual Abuse, Its Prevention and Treatment, P 4-8, 1986, Dawn C Haden, ed. -- See NCJ-107618)

• NCJ Number: 107619
• Author(s): D Finkelhor
• Date Published: 1986
• Length: 5 pages
• Sale Source: Oryx Press
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS. Reprinted from Children Today, V 13, N 4 (July-August 1984), P 18-20

Annotation

The difficulties involved in gathering accurate data on child sexual abuse mean that existing estimates undoubtedly understate the incidence of the problem.

Abstract

Precise and reliable figures may never exist. However, several efforts have been made to determine the extent of the problem, and some may have come closer to the truth than anyone expected. The National Incidence study conducted in 1979 under the sponsorship of the National Center for Child Abuse and Neglect used a toll-free telephone number and confidential questionnaires distributed to agencies in 26 counties. Using these data, it estimated that 44,700 cases were known to professionals in the year beginning in April 1979. Several other researchers have tried to gather data from victims by asking adults about sexual abuse during their childhood. Kinsey's sample of 4,441 female volunteers is the basis of the widely quoted statistic that 1 in 4 women are sexually abused. The author surveyed 796 college students and found that approximately 1 in 5 women and 1 in 11 men had been sexually victimized. The author's household survey of 521 adults found that 15 percent of the women and 5 percent of the men had been sexually abused. Diana Russell found that 54 percent of 955 adult women had experienced encounters with exhibitionists or abuse involving physical contact. The surveys show that the incidence is high and that most victims do not tell anyone. They are useful as general guides, although they do not give definitive information. 7 references.