Elsevier

Journal of Adolescent Health

Volume 55, Issue 3, September 2014, Pages 329-333
Journal of Adolescent Health

Original article
The Lifetime Prevalence of Child Sexual Abuse and Sexual Assault Assessed in Late Adolescence

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2013.12.026Get rights and content

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.

Section snippets

Participants

This analysis draws on three very similarly designed national telephone surveys: the Developmental Victimization Survey (2003) [12] and the National Survey of Children Exposed to Violence I (NatSCEV I) (2008) [13] and II (2011) [14]. The primary foundation of the design for all three studies was a nationwide sampling frame of residential telephone numbers from which a sample of telephone households was drawn by random digit dialing. All regions and geographical settings had an equal chance of

Results

Table 1 lists lifetime estimates for contact sexual abuse/assault for the 15-, 16-, and 17-year-olds from three combined national samples in 2003, 2008, and 2011.

The lifetime rate increased for each additional year of experience among this older youth cohort. So the experience of any sexual abuse/assault among females rose from 16.8% (95% CI 11.5–22.2) for 15-year-olds to 21.7% (95% CI 16.3–27.0) for 16-year-olds to 26.6% (95% CI 19.8–33.5) for 17-year-olds. For males, it rose from 4.3% (95% CI

Discussion

For those seeking an estimate of exposure for a recent cohort of young people to sexual abuse and sexual assault over the course of childhood, the findings here suggest that it is likely to be undercounted in a sample of mixed-age older youth. Given the rise with each additional year from 15 to 17, it would be best to base estimates on youth at the very end of childhood, which in this sample would be the 17-year-olds for whom this analysis provided an estimate of 26.6% for females and 5.1% for

Funding Sources

For the purposes of compliance with Section 507 of PL 104-208 (the “Stevens Amendment”), readers are advised that funding was derived from multiple sources. This project was supported by federal Grant numbers 2006-JW-BX-0003 and 2009-JW-BX-0018 awarded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Office of Justice Programs, US Department of Justice. The total amount of federal funding involved is $2,850,814.

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    Disclaimer: Points of view or opinions in this document are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the US Department of Justice.

    Conflicts of Interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

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