OBJECTIVE: To ascertain the prevalence of childhood sexual abuse
(CSA) in a community sample of Australian women. DESIGN: Retrospective
study, done in 1994, of cross-sectional data on the prevalence of CSA,
collected as part of a larger two-stage case-control study of the
possible relationship between CSA and alcohol abuse. Data were
appropriately weighted to adjust for the different selection
probabilities of cases and controls. PARTICIPANTS: 710 Women randomly
selected from Australian federal electoral rolls. RESULTS: One hundred
and forty-four women (20%) had experienced CSA. In 14 of these 144
women (10%), the abuse involved either vaginal or anal intercourse
(i.e., 2% of the sample population experienced such abuse). The mean
age at first episode of CSA was 10 years, and most (71%) of the women
were aged under 12 years at the time. Perpetrators of the abuse were
usually male (98%) and usually known to the child; 41% were
relatives. The mean age of abusers was 34 years, with a median age
difference of 24 years from that of the abused individual. Only 10% of
CSA experiences were ever reported to the police, a doctor or a
helping agency (e.g., community organisations, such as sexual assault
services). CONCLUSION: The high rates of CSA (estimated to be 20% of
all women) and low rates of reporting (10%) indicate the need for
general practitioners and other health professionals to be aware that
a history of such abuse may be common in women in the general
population.