Gender Differences in the Characterization of Child Sexual Abuse

ABSTRACT

Research on child sexual abuse (CSA) has increased in recent decades. However, the study of gender differences in this field is still scarce. The aim of this study was to analyze the differences in the characterization of CSA between Spanish adult men and women. The Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire was administered to 162 cisgender victims of CSA aged 18–63. Most of the abuses involved physical contact and were committed by a known person. Twenty percent of the victims indicated that they had developed a mental health problem that they believed was due to the CSA experience. Women suffered more CSA with physical contact and penetration, more types of abuse and more abuse by men, and were abused more frequently by a family member. Compared to women, men suffered more sexual abuse by women. Exploring gender differences in CSA could help to improve preventive strategies and interventions aimed at reducing the occurrence of this type of abuse and sequelae resulting from it.

KEYWORDS:

• Childhood
• adolescence
• sequelae
• victim
• offender
• men
• women
• sexual abuse

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.

Notes on contributors

Carlos García-Montoliu

Carlos García-Montoliu FPI/FPU Spanish research and teaching fellowship is Clinical and Sexuality Researcher at Universitat Jaume I in Castellón de la Plana, Spain.

Rafael Ballester-Arnal

Rafael Ballester-Arnal, Full Professor of Clinical Health Psychology and Sexuality Research Professor at Universitat Jaume I, and Director of the Salusex research group, Castellón de la Plana, Spain.

Juan E. Nebot-Garcia

Juan E. Nebot-Garcia is Assistant professor of Clinical Health Psychology and Sexuality Researcher at Universitat de València I in Valencia, Spain.

Estefanía Ruiz-Palomino

Estefanía Ruiz-Palomino is Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology and Personality and Sexuality Research Professor at Universitat Jaume I in Castellón de la Plana, Spain.