NCJ Number
228576
Journal
Child Abuse and Neglect Volume: 33 Issue: 8 Dated: August 2009 Pages: 533-544
Date Published
August 2009
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This study sought to identify sexual abuse among ethnically diverse high school adolescents and evaluate their psycho-emotional consequences.
Abstract
Findings of the study suggest that the prevalence rate of sexual abuse was higher for both males and females and particularly higher for Latinos than expected in previous research. Many of the gender differences in emotional distress often reflect earlier experiences of childhood sexual abuse (CSA). The findings also confirmed the traumatic impact of CSA among adolescents that had been well documented by retrospective research among adults. Ethnic and gender similarities were found in the psychological impact and circumstances of sexual abuse among the sample of adolescents. Research was recommended to continue expanding to include ethnic minorities, males, and non-clinical adolescents. CSA has generated a great deal of research over many years. This study examined a non-clinical sample of adolescent students using the Trauma Symptom Inventory (TSI). The study sought to determine whether inconsistent responders to questions about sexual abuse were more similar to confirmed CSA victims or non-CSA students, based on TSI scores; to determine the prevalence of CSA victims by gender and ethnicity; and to examine the type of perpetrators who committed sexual abuse. Tables and references