The DOI matches its Crossref record; 50 of the 50 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Female perpetrators of child sexual abuse in the United States
Abstract
Purpose: Research on women who sexually abuse children is relatively scarce and tends to rely on small or unrepresentative convenience samples. The purpose of the current descriptive study is to examine characteristics female perpetrators of child sexual abuse using a large and contemporary dataset. Design/methodology/approach: This study analyzes data collected by the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System, which is a census of all child protective services investigations or assessments conducted in all 50 states, as well as in the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico from October 1, 2018, to September 30, 2019. Findings: Only substantiated cases of sexual abuse were analyzed (n= 51,442 cases). Overall, 7.6% of the perpetrators were female, though the percentage of female perpetrators varied dramatically across states from less than 1% to over 36%. Female perpetrators tended to have younger victims than did male perpetrators. For children aged 2 or less, female perpetrators constituted approximately 20% of the abusers. Female perpetrators were more likely to victimize male and female children, whereas male perpetrators predominantly had female victims. More female perpetrators had a prior finding of maltreatment than did male perpetrators (32.3% vs 23.5%). Research limitations/implications: These findings add to the limited research base on female perpetrators of child sexual abuse and highlight avenues for further research into the differences between male and female sexual abusers. Originality/value: This study is a replication of previous research but also provides additional novel findings.
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Cites
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
Ostermann, J. C., & Watson, S. J. (2024) · Journal of Criminal Psychology · doi:10.1108/jcp-01-2024-0002 · Cited by 20
Priebe, B., Christensen, L. S., McKillop, N., & Rayment‐McHugh, S. (2024) · Journal of Offender Rehabilitation · doi:10.1080/10509674.2024.2406756 · Cited by 7
Fortunato, E., Slikboer, R., Henshaw, M., Meyer, D., & Ogloff, J. R. P. (2024) · Behavioral Sciences & the Law · doi:10.1002/bsl.2703 · Cited by 7
Li, E. M., Willmott, D., & Trivedi‐Bateman, N. (2025) · Mental Health and Social Inclusion · doi:10.1108/mhsi-12-2024-0219 · Cited by 6
Bergin, N., Alzaabi, A., Barrett, M. J., Roe, S., Walsh, A., Geoghegan, A. R., & Harty, S. (2025) · Archives of Disease in Childhood · doi:10.1136/archdischild-2025-328561 · Cited by 5
Metadata
- Authors
- Scurich, N.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Irvine (US)
- Corresponding author
- Scurich, Nicholas
- ORCID
- Scurich, Nicholas
- Venue
- Journal of Criminal Psychology
- Publisher
- Emerald
- Published
- 2023-08-23
- Volume
- 13
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 417-428
- ISSN
- 2009-3829 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4386040632
- Semantic Scholar
- f052e1c5139866c30adbc8fe6a6562a5c197565f
- Cited by
- 14
- References
- 49
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 1
- FWCI
- 3.85
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Criminal Psychology (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child Abuse and Trauma
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychopathy, Forensic Psychiatry, Sexual Offending
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Military, Security, and Education Studies
- Keywords
- women offenders, child sexual abuse, child abuse, National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System, child protective services investigations, victim characteristics, offender characteristics, gender differences in abuse, state-level variation
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- Scurich, N. (2023). Female perpetrators of child sexual abuse in the United States. Journal of Criminal Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1108/jcp-07-2023-0045
