The lifetime prevalence of child sexual abuse and sexual assault assessed in late adolescence
Abstract
Purpose To estimate the likelihood that a recent cohort of children would be exposed to sexual abuse and sexual assault by age 17 in the United States.Methods This analysis draws on three very similarly designed national telephone surveys of youth in 2003, 2008, and 2011, resulting in a pooled sample of 708 17-year-olds, 781 15-year-olds, and 804 16-year-olds.Results The lifetime experience of 17-year-olds with sexual abuse and sexual assault was 26.6% (95% confidence interval [CI] 19.8-33.5) for girls and 5.1% (95% CI 2.6-7.6) for boys. The lifetime experience with sexual abuse and sexual assault at the hands of adult perpetrators exclusively was 11.2% (95% CI 6.4-16.1) for females and 1.9% (95% CI .5-3.4) for males. For females, considerable risk for sexual abuse and assault was concentrated in late adolescence, as the rate rose from 16.8% (95% CI 11.5-22.2) for 15-year-old females to 26.6% (95% CI 19.8-33.5) for 17-year-old females. For males, it rose from 4.3% (95% CI 1.9-6.8) at 15 years to 5.1% (2.6-7.6) at 17 years.Conclusions Self-report surveys in late adolescence reveal high rates of lifetime experience with sexual abuse and sexual assault at the hands of both adults and peers. Because of high continuing victimization during the late teen years, assessments are most complete when conducted among the oldest youth.
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Prior research has found a substantial proportion of child sexual abuse first occurs in those aged 15-17.
“Prior research has found a substantial proportion of child sexual abuse first occurs in those aged 15 -17 (Finkelhor et al., 2014)”
From Child sexual abuse by different classes and types of perpetrator: Prevalence and trends from an Australian national survey (2024) · cites this paper as Finkelhor et al., 2014
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- Authors
- Finkelhor, D., Shattuck, A., Turner, H. A., & Hamby, S. L.
- Affiliations
- University of New Hampshire (US)
- Sewanee: The University of the South (US)
- Venue
- Journal of Adolescent Health
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2014-09
- Volume
- 55
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 329-333
- ISSN
- 1054-139X (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2144918153
- Cited by
- 631
- References
- 19
- Citations by year
- 2026: 40 · 2025: 51 · 2024: 55 · 2023: 55 · 2022: 65 · 2021: 61 · 2020: 84 · 2019: 67 · 2018: 50 · 2017: 38 · 2016: 31 · 2015: 25 · 2014: 7
- FWCI
- 39.73
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Adolescent Health (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- University of New Hampshire Scholars Repository (University of New Hampshire at Manchester) (submittedVersion)
- 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, sexual assault, lifetime prevalence, late adolescence, adolescent victimization, adult perpetrators, gender differences, self-report questionnaire
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Child Abuse, Sexual, Female, Humans, Male, Surveys and Questionnaires, United States, Prevalence
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