FAMILY OF ORIGIN STRUCTURE AND INTRA/EXTRAFAMILIAL CHILDHOOD SEXUAL VICTIMIZATION OF MALE AND FEMALE OFFENDERS

• NCJ Number: 145097
• Journal: Journal of Child Sexual Abuse Volume: 1 Issue: 3 Dated: (1992) Pages: 31-45
• Author(s): C M Allen; C M Lee
• Date Published: 1992
• Length: 15 pages
• Grant Number(s): 90-CA-1214
• Sponsoring Agency: US Dept of Health and Human Services
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

The relationship between offenders' intra- and extrafamilial childhood sexual victimization and their family-of-origin structure (closed, open, or random) is examined.

Abstract

Interviewers met with offenders in Iowa, Missouri, and Minneapolis who reported having been abused as children. The primarily Caucasian sample included 20 males (mean age 41) and 25 females (mean age 33). Offenders from closed families were least likely to have experienced extrafamilial abuse (33.3 percent), while those from random families were most likely (84.6 percent). The opposite was true for intrafamilial childhood sexual abuse, as victimization rates were highest among those who came from closed families (66.7 percent) and lowest among those who came from random families (15.4 percent). Those who came from open or mixed families consistently reported in-between rates. Overall, the females reported higher childhood sexual victimization rates than did the males, but the family-of-origin structure patterns were similar for both genders. 3 tables, 2 endnotes, and 9 references