OBJECTIVE: To present accounts of the prevalence of childhood
sexual abuse (CSA) and social, family, and related factors that are
associated with increased risk of CSA, using data gathered during an
18-year longitudinal study of a New Zealand birth cohort. METHOD: A
birth cohort of more than 1,000 children born in Christchurch (New
Zealand) was studied prospectively to the age of 16 years. At age 18,
retrospective reports of CSA were obtained. RESULTS: Of the cohort,
10.4% (17.3% of females and 3.4% of males) reported having experienced
CSA before the age of 16 years. Rates of severe abusive experiences
involving intercourse were lower: 5.6% of females and 1.4% of males
reported abuse involving attempted or completed
intercouse. Multivariate analyses that the risk of CSA was elevated
among females (p < .0001), those exposed to high levels of marital
conflict (p < .005), those reporting low parental attachment (p <
.001), those reporting high levels of paternal overprotection (p <
.005), and those with parents who reported alcoholism/alcohol problems
(p < .05). The level of prediction of CSA from childhood and family
factors was not sufficient to identify individuals at risk of CSA with
any degree of accuracy. CONCLUSIONS: CSA was not an uncommon
experience in this cohort. Those most likely to be exposed to CSA were
girls reared in families in families characterized by high levels of
marital conflict and impaired parenting and in families having parents
with adjustment problems.
PMID: 8885590, UI: 97040199