A Retrospective Investigation of Child Sexual Abuse Cases

Abstract

Objective: This study examines child sexual abuse case files to determine characteristics of sexual abuse.
Methods: The study retrospectively analyzed 142 child sexual abuse case files that were finalized from 2012 to
2017. The data were collected using a data collection form developed by the researcher based on literature. In the
analysis of data; descriptive statistics, chi-square test and binary logistic regression analysis were used.
Results: The average age of 142 children who were exposed to sexual abuse was 13.3±3.4 years, 86.6% were
females, and mostly children aged between 13 and 18 were exposed to abuse. The average age of perpetrators was
28.5±13.2 years, 25.4% were children, and all of them were males. Only 10.6% of the children did not know the
perpetrator, and they were exposed to abuse mostly by friends/ex-boyfriends. Sexual abuse was found to happen
mostly in the perpetrator’s home, car, or office. Of all children, 50.7% were exposed to abuse more than once, 33.1%
were threatened and they were exposed to mostly penetrative sexual abuse (52.8%). Variables such as the
perpetrator’s age, the way the case was referred to court, and the number of abuses were found to be variables that
had effects on penetrative abuse, and they were found to be the factors that increased penetrative abuse risk.
Conclusion: In future, multicenter studies should be conducted to investigate types of child sexual abuse that does
not involve physical contact, and associate it with characteristics of children, families and perpetrators.
Keywords: Child, Child maltreatment, Child sexual abuse, Judicial cases

Keywords

• child
• child maltreatment
• child sexual abuse
• judicial cases

References

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