Advances in child sexual maltreatment epidemiology

International epidemiological research in the past decade has challenged one of the ‘core facts’ in our field: that girls are two to three times more likely than boys to be exposed to sexual abuse. Consistently now, there... [ view full abstract ]

International epidemiological research in the past decade has challenged one of the ‘core facts’ in our field: that girls are two to three times more likely than boys to be exposed to sexual abuse. Consistently now, there is research in Asian and Middle Eastern countries showing approximate equivalence across genders, or somewhat higher risk among boys. This is quite different from patterns in North America, Europe and in some African and South American countries. What differentiates the experiences of boys and girls who are victimized? Is the apparently strong influence of culture genuine? What specific cultural, socioeconomic or methodological might explain this variation? What can we learn about protective cultural influences?

This symposium offers a diverse range of research on the topic of our changing understanding of child sexual maltreatment. The sessions includes three presentations:

Testing Hypotheses on International Variation - a methodological examination of international variability in prevalence and exploration of what is needed to test the sources of the differences.
Adult Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse (CSA): Convergence of Pathogenesis and Salutogenesis - focuses on a large US ACE study of adults and examines resilience.
Long term impact of child sexual abuse among Saudi Arabian adults - is an examination of a large Saudi Arabian ACE sample of adults and describes how sexual maltreatment for both males and females impacts long term health outcomes.