The prevalence of child sexual abuse with online sexual abuse added
Abstract
Background and objective Research efforts are measuring various forms of online sexual abuse. There is a need to incorporate such measures of online sexual abuse into the calculation of overall prevalence rates for child sexual abuse.Participants A sample of 2639 respondents aged 18-to-28 was recruited from a nationally representative online panel.Methods Using an online questionnaire, respondents were assessed via self-report about 9 types of online sexual abuse in childhood and were also assessed with 2 questions that have been used to assess generic child sexual abuse prevalence in previous surveys.Results The addition of the online abuse to the generic questions about child sexual abuse raised the overall prevalence rate from 13.5 % to 21.7 %. The rate for females increased from 19.8 % to 31.6 % and for males from 6.2 % to 10.8 %. The largest independent contribution to the overall combined increase were the offenses involving non-consensual image sharing and voluntary online sexual interactions with an impermissibly older adult partner. The inclusion of the online sexual abuse exposures also increased the ability to identify the survivors with the highest levels of current psychological distress.Conclusion The study highlights the importance of counting and including online sexual abuse in efforts to estimate the overall prevalence of childhood sexual abuse. The paper proposes 2 or 3 questions that could be added to sexual abuse questionnaires to assess these online offenses efficiently.
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In a study of 2639 respondents aged 18 to 28, adding online abuse to a survey asking about child sexual abuse increased the overall prevalence rate of child sexual abuse from 13.5% to 21.7%.
“For example, a study carried out by Finkelhor, Turner, and Colburn involving 2639 respondents aged 18 to 28 [34] found that when online abuse was added to a survey in which participants were asked about child sexual abuse, the overall prevalence rate of CSA increased from 13.5% to 21.7%.”
From Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse of Children and Adolescents with Disabilities: A Systematic Review (2024) · cites this paper as [34]
In that study, adding online abuse to the child sexual abuse survey increased the prevalence rate for males from 6.2% to 10.8%.
“This corresponds to an increase from 19.8% to 31.6% for females and from 6.2% to 10.8% for males [34].”
From Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse of Children and Adolescents with Disabilities: A Systematic Review (2024) · cites this paper as [34]
In that study, adding online abuse to the child sexual abuse survey increased the prevalence rate for females from 19.8% to 31.6%.
“This corresponds to an increase from 19.8% to 31.6% for females and from 6.2% to 10.8% for males [34].”
From Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse of Children and Adolescents with Disabilities: A Systematic Review (2024) · cites this paper as [34]
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References 37 · Cited by 105
- Authors
- Finkelhor, D., Turner, H., & Colburn, D.
- Affiliations
- University of New Hampshire (US)
- Venue
- Child Abuse & Neglect
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2024-03
- Volume
- 149
- Pages
- 106634
- ISSN
- 0145-2134 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4390871142
- Cited by
- 105
- References
- 37
- Citations by year
- 2026: 50 · 2025: 44 · 2024: 11
- FWCI
- 51.92
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- Locations
- Child Abuse & Neglect (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Justice (2020-R2-CX-0015)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child Abuse and Trauma
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Sexual Assault and Victimization Studies
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Military, Security, and Education Studies
- Keywords
- child sexual abuse, online sexual abuse, prevalence estimation, non-consensual image sharing, psychological distress, questionnaire development, gender differences in abuse
- MeSH terms
- Aged, Child, Child Abuse, Child Abuse, Sexual, Female, Humans, Male, Surveys and Questionnaires, Sexual Behavior, Prevalence
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