NCJ Number
229202
Journal
Journal of Child Sexual Abuse Volume: 18 Issue: 6 Dated: November-December 2009 Pages: 655-672
Date Published
December 2009
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This study examined the characteristics, referral sources, and service patterns of adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and adult sexual assault and/or abuse (ASA).
Abstract
Findings suggest that paths into service differ for the two groups. Adult survivors of childhood sexual assault/abuse obtain significantly more hours of service and service contacts on average than adult survivors of adult sexual assault/abuse. Demographic data indicate that although there were significant differences between the groups related to gender and race/ethnicity, differences were not always significant. The majority of individuals in both groups of survivors were White females, although adult survivors of CSA were slightly more likely to be male and slightly less likely to be persons of color compared to survivors of ASA. Adult survivors of CSA were also more likely to be married or formerly married compared to adult survivors of ASA and were slightly older when they entered services. Girls are at greater risk than boys for CSA. Data on referral sources for survivors of ASA report that survivors of ASA are more likely to receive referrals for treatment if they report to the police or hospital; hospitals and police stations often have ongoing working relationships with sexual assault crisis centers. Conversely, adult survivors of CSA rarely received referrals from police departments and hospitals, but referrals were most often made by a social service program, suggesting that victims first sought help from such programs before coming to the sexual assault crisis centers. Data were collected from 8,112 CSA survivors and 13,381 ASA survivors; information was provided by 32 crisis centers that comprise the Illinois Coalition against Sexual Assault (ICASA). Tables and references