NCJ Number
124418
Date Published
1988
Length
26 pages
Annotation
To provide a framework for understanding the extent of the problem, this report discusses the prevalence of sexual abuse, adolescent pregnancy, and substance abuse; the impact of sexual abuse on the child and the types of related problems; and the relationship between childhood sexual abuse and adolescent pregnancy, sexual abuse and substance abuse, substance abuse and teen pregnancy, and the combination of childhood sexual abuse, adolescent pregnancy, and substance abuse.
Abstract
A schematic representation illustrates the existence of the multiple ways in which sexual abuse, adolescent pregnancy, and substance abuse are related. If the conservatively estimated 1 percent prevalence of sexual abuse in the population at large is valid, 750,000 women 18 and older in the general population have been sexually abused on the basis of 1979 data. Nonclinical studies provide strong support for the traumatic nature of sexual abuse of children and the development of serious emotional, psychological, and physical sequelae as a result. No direct causal relationship has been established between childhood sexual abuse and adolescent pregnancy or substance abuse by existing clinical or empirical studies, but it appears that sexual abuse acts indirectly through other types of "at-risk" behavior to which adolescents are predisposed. An increase in the number of deviant or at-risk behaviors has been observed with greater frequency among sexually abused youth than among nonvictimized groups. The Council on Scientific Affairs recommends further and comprehensive study of the problem. 5 tables, 49 references.