NCJ Number
188649
Journal
Child Maltreatment Volume: 6 Issue: 2 Dated: May 2001 Pages: 103-117
Date Published
May 2001
Length
15 pages
Annotation
This study investigates knowledge and ideas about child sexual abuse among African Americans and Latinos through focus group discussions.
Abstract
The participants in this study included 34 men and 24 women divided into a total of eight groups. They ranged in age from 20 to 60 and all resided in Philadelphia. Participants defined and described child sexual abuse with the male participants being more detailed in their descriptions than the women. All participants were well aware of the power differential inherent in a sexual encounter between an adult or adolescent and a younger child. They acknowledged that child sexual abuse occurred in their communities and discussed the root causes such as family risk factors, risky institutions and offender propensities. In the Latino group the participants described social and economic pressure to keep a man around the house as exposing children to risky situations. In the African American groups, participants referred to drug use and abuse as contributing to both parents’ abuse of there own children and parents’ lack of vigilance over their children, which might make them more vulnerable to abuse by others. Only Latinos, both men and women, described changes in the family, culture, and community as factors contributing to child sexual abuse. The findings suggest that experiences of child sexual abuse are colored by the perceptions and values of the victim, the offender, and the cultural communities in which they occur. This points to the need for group-specific prevention programs, tailored to the strengths and weaknesses of the groups they are meant to reach. 2 tables, 38 references.