NCJ Number
127721
Journal
Journal of Family Violence Volume: 5 Issue: 4 Dated: (December 1990) Pages: 321-332
Date Published
1990
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This study uses data drawn from a United States national probability sample to compare female and male experience of sexual abuse. It also examines the experience of sexual abuse by gender where the abuser is a relative and where the abuser is a stranger or acquaintance. Through this approach, the study should be able to assess whether, under similar conditions of abuse, significant gender differences emerge.
Abstract
In July 1985, the Los Angeles Times conducted a poll based on a sampling frame of all telephone residences in the United States. Men and women aged 18 and over (N=2627) were interviewed during the 8-day survey. the questions asked in the survey are listed, and the results presented in three tables. The results show that the differences in the profiles of the male and female sexual abuse victim relate in a fundamental way to their relationship with the abuser. Males are largely insulated from abuse by those emotionally close to them; they are abused by strangers or acquaintances. Females, however, disproportionately are abused by older male relatives. The results also indicate that the relationship between gender and sexual abuse is more complicated than may previously have been thought. 3 tables and 30 references (Publisher abstract modified)