Sexual Offenses Committed against Children

Abstract

A descriptive analysis was done on 73 consecutive cases of childhood sexual abuse seen in 1978. There were conspicuous similarities among the cases. Sexually abused children tended to come from households with evidence of family stress. The events occurred in safe havens such as the childrens' own homes, by individuals known and trusted by the children. An intrafamilial stress-dysfunction model, rather than a victim-assailant model, is more applicable to childhood sexual abuse.

Child Sexual Abuse: A Cybernetic Description and its Implications for Professionals

“…It is now well known that child sexual abuse when discovered has frequently been occurring for months or even years. It is usually kept secret and sometimes affected families are isolated from community resources (Slager-Jones, 1978;Scherzer and Lala, 1980;Taubman, 1984). Those keeping the secret may be those directly involved in the abuse, and may sometimes include other members of the family who know about the abuse but participate in the problem by keeping the secret (Swanson and Biaggio 1985;Weitzel, Powell and Penick, 1978).…”

Rape of the Adolescent

“…2,3 Generally, the findings have indicated that most of the victims were females with a small percentage of males. The assailant tends to be known by the child and is most frequently a member of the household.…”

“…As adolescence approaches, the incidence of violent attack by strangers increases significantly as does the frequency of sexual abuse where the assailant is known to the victim. 2 Adolescence also is the period during which the child must resolve the emotional effects of incest.…”

MMPI discrimination of incest offenders : a validity study of the IC, SV, and PE subscales

“…The increasing professional and public concern regarding the prevalence of incest has demonstrated the need for the identification, assessment, and treatment of incest offenders (Renshaw, 1982;Sgroi, 1982;Watson, Lubenow, Greenberg, King, & Junkin, 1984). Despite the existence of an incest taboo (Freud, 1913(Freud, /1946Levi-Strauss, 1969;Lindzey, 1967;Parker, 1976), recent studies have indicated that the practice of incest is more pervasive than previously suspected (Banmen, 1982;Gelinas, 1983;Scherzer & Lala, 1980;Vander Mey & Neff, 1982;Westermeyer, 1978). Incest with children has been the primary focus of many of these studies and has been cited as a frequent but underreported form of sexual child abuse (Finkelhor, 1984;Russell, 1983).…”