Prevalence and characteristics of childhood sexual abuse in multiethnic female college students Article

Kenny, MC, McEachern, AG. (2000). Prevalence and characteristics of childhood sexual abuse in multiethnic female college students . Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 9(2), 57-70. 10.1300/J070v09n02_04

cited authors

  • Kenny, MC; McEachern, AG

abstract

  • A survey of 164 college women revealed that 18% recalled some instance of childhood sexual abuse. These women were from a variety of ethnic, cultural, and economic backgrounds. The majority of the women were abused by nonfamily members (neighbors, acquaintances, friends of the family), but strangers were the identified perpetrators in 21% of the cases. In the intrafamilial sexual abuse cases, the perpetrator was most commonly a cousin. The majority of the sexual abuse consisted of fondling of the victim by the perpetrator (67%), with the second most reported experience being the exposure of the perpetrator to the victim (30%). There were differences in the economic backgrounds of the abused women when compared to the nonabused women, with the present findings differing from past research examining family of origin income level and sexual abuse. The importance of these findings is discussed as well as directions for future research. © 2000 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.

authors

publication date

  • December 1, 2000

published in

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

start page

  • 57

end page

  • 70

volume

  • 9

issue

  • 2