Sexual Violence of Liberian School Age Students: An Investigation of Perpetration, Gender, and Forms of Abuse.

This study examined the perpetration of sexual violence within the institutional setting of primary schools in Liberia using secondary analysis of data collected from 811 Liberian school aged participants (298 girls and 513 boys). The study looked specifically at the perpetration of: 1) sexual violation, 2) transactional sex, and 3) sexual coercion. Sexual violation was the most common form of sexual violence experienced, followed by sexual coercion, and then transactional sex. Findings showed statistically significant differences in experiences of transactional sex and sexual coercion, with girls more likely to experience both forms of violence. Further, girls were more likely to experience sexual abuse by a teacher and religious figure. Perpetration by teachers, school staff, and religious figures were all linked to transactional sex. Results showed that transactional sex was most highly statistically significantly associated with teachers while perpetration by a religious figure was statistically significantly associated with sexual coercion. Girls had three times of the odds of experiencing transactional sex and coercion. We conclude that there is a need for interventions to prevent sexual abuse from occurring in educational institutions. In particular, there is a need for protective mechanisms addressing the transactional nature of abuse with teachers and school staff.

Reoffending rates in a U.K. community sample of individuals with convictions for indecent images of children.

Although they remain a relatively small proportion of all identified sex offenders, there is increasing concern about individuals with offenses relating to indecent images of children (IIOC) online. This study examined the reoffending rates of a sample of IIOC-only (n = 584, 84.6%) and mixed IIOC-contact (n = 106, 15.4%) offenders who participated in a U.K. community intervention and the predictive validity of risk and psychological assessment outcomes. Proven reoffending rates were 24.8% for any reconviction and 12.6% for sexual reconvictions after a 13-year average follow-up. Rates differed significantly, with the mixed group 2 times more likely to receive any reconviction and 3 times more likely to receive a sexual reconviction. Only 2.7% of the IIOC-only group was convicted of a subsequent contact offense. Prior general offenses were found to be significantly predictive of general reconviction and prior sexual convictions were significantly predictive of sexual convictions, albeit with weak predictive power. Reliable change on treatment "domains" was not predictive of either general or sexual reconvictions. While lower reconviction rates do not minimize the seriousness of IIOC use, these findings highlight the need for comprehensive assessment of proven and self-reported offending history to make sound risk decisions and the need for larger samples with longer follow-ups and comparisons between detected and undetected IIOC users. The findings also raise questions about the nature and efficiencies related to treatment for a population in which rates of reconviction appear to be relatively low. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

The Study of Reliability and Validity of the Korean Version of the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Young Children.

The present study aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Korean version of the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Young Children (TSCYC) including reliability and validity. The TSCYC is an instrument to identify trauma symptoms in children from age 3 to 12 yr by their caretakers. The Korean version of the TSCYC was administered to the caretakers of a normative group of 299 children (137 boys and 162 girls) aged 3 to 12 yr and a traumatized group of 73 sexually abused children (22 boys and 51 girls) aged 3 to 12 yr and their caretakers rated the TSCYC and the Child Behavior Checklist and the Child Sexual Behavior Inventory. Among normative group, 88 performed a re-test after 4 weeks. The internal consistency, Cronbach's alpha of total scale of the TSCYC was 0.92 (normative group) and 0.96 (traumatized group). For the nine clinical scales in the TSCYC, it ranged between 0.46-0.92 and 0.77-0.96, respectively. Test-retest correlation of the TSCYC was good (Pearson r score ranging 0.52-0.96). Correlations between the TSCYC and other measures of corresponding constructs were satisfactory. Regarding discriminant validity, the mean total score of the TSCYC was significantly higher in the traumatized children than in the normative group. This study demonstrated that Korean version of the TSCYC is a reliable measure with excellent internal consistency and good stability over 4-week test-retest interval. It can be recommended for clinicians to screen for trauma symptoms after child sexual abuse in Korean young children between the ages 3 and 12.

Risk and Criminogenic Needs of Youth Who Sexually Offended in Singapore: An Examination of Two Typologies.

An increasing amount of research has been carried out to understand the characteristics of subgroups of adult sex offenders, but there is limited research into the risk factors and criminogenic needs of subgroups of youth who sexually offended. The current study investigated if there were differences in the risk and criminogenic needs of 167 Singaporean youth who sexually offended based on two typologies - youth who offended both sexually and nonsexually versus youth who offended only sexually, and youth who offended against child victims versus youth who offended against nonchild victims. Results show that youth who offended both sexually and nonsexually were found to have higher risk and criminogenic needs as compared to youth who only sexually offended. In addition, youth who offended against child victims were found to have higher numbers of previous sexual assaults as compared to youth who offended against nonchild victims. These differences have implications for the management and intervention of youth who sexually offended.

A criminal careers typology of child sexual abusers.

We present a criminal careers typology of child sexual abusers constructed in terms of their offending persistence (persistent vs. limited) and versatility (specialized vs. versatile). Analyses were conducted on the official records of 362 convicted offenders, 213 of whom also provided confidential self-report data on their personal and offending histories. Forty-one percent of the sample were currently serving sentences for their first sexual offense conviction(s) but had at least one prior conviction for a nonsexual offense (limited/versatile); 36.4% had no previous convictions of any kind (limited/specialized); 17.8% had prior convictions for sexual and nonsexual offenses (persistent/versatile); and 4.8% had prior convictions for sexual offenses only (persistent/specialized). These four groups differed on a range of personal and offense-related variables, including abuse histories, sexual orientation, age at first sexual contact with a child, number of victims, duration of sexual involvement with victims, victim gender, and whether victims were familial or nonfamilial. These differences suggest the need to adopt different treatment and prevention strategies that target the specific characteristics of each group.

Differentiating single and multiple victim child sexual abuse cases: a research note considering social disorganization theory.

This study examined the utility of social disorganization theory as an explanation for child sexual abuse with a focus on differentiating single and multiple victim cases. Drawing on 1,172 child sexual abuse cases (including 159 cases with multiple victims) in Orange County, Florida, from 2004 to 2006, the present study considered case characteristics and elements of social disorganization as potential predictors of child sexual abuse cases involving single and multiple victims. We found that social disorganization theory does not successfully predict the locations of multiple victim child sexual abuse incidents and is not useful for distinguishing between child sexual abuse incidents with single or multiple victims.

[Pedophilia--a review of literature, casuistics, doubts]. / Pedofilia--przeglad literatury, ilustracja kazuistyczna, dylematy.

The main purpose of this article is presentation of several basic issues related to the phenomenon of child sexual molesters and recognition of pedophilia as a significant social problem. The article, supplemented by casuistic illustration showing adolescents with sexual behavior disorders is giving rise to the following question: do they progress in their inappropriate behaviors to grow into adult molesters or do they stop anywhere along the way of their development? Casuistry, in the intention of the authors, is the background for discussion about prevention of child sexual abuse. This article presents also a review of the current knowledge about child sexual molesters. The topics include: the definition of pedophilia itself, which varies in the literature depending on the types of activities, kinds of victims and the circumstances in which the perpetrator acts, through to the recognition of symptoms of pedophilia as well as its consequences. It includes both intra-familial and extra-familial child sexual abuse and their offenders. The more, that the history of child sexual abuse is associated with numerous long-term physical, psychological, behavioral, interpersonal and social effects on the victim. The examinations made among pedophilic molesters have shown structural and functional temporal-limbic abnormalities, including abnormalities in the amygdala and it is possible that the pedophilic inclinations are secondary to neurodevelopmental perturbations and other neuropsychiatric syndromes.

Computerized assessment of pedophilic sexual interest through self-report and viewing time: reliability, validity, and classification accuracy of the affinity program.

Affinity is a computerized assessment tool that combines viewing time and self-report measures of sexual interest. The present study was designed to assess the diagnostic properties of Affinity with respect to sexual interest in prepubescent children. Reliability of both self-report and viewing time components was estimated to be high. The group profile of a sample of pedophilic adult male child molesters (n = 42, all of whom admitted their offenses) differed from the group profiles of male community controls (n = 95) and male nonsexual offenders (n = 27), respectively. More specifically, both ratings and viewing times for images showing small children or prejuvenile children were significantly higher within the child molester sample than in either of the other two groups, attesting to the validity of the measures. Overall classification accuracy, however, was mediocre: A multivariate classification routine yielded 50% sensitivity for child molester status at the cost of 13% false positives. The implications for forensic use of Affinity are discussed.

Perpetrator and victim gender patterns for 21 forms of youth victimization in the National Survey of Children's Exposure to Violence.

Most interest in violence and gender has focused on certain types of victimization such as sex offenses and relational aggression. This study examined gender patterns across numerous forms of youth victimization. The data are from the National Survey of Children's Exposure to Violence (NatSCEV), a nationally representative U.S. sample of 4,549 children ages 1 month to 17 years obtained through a telephone survey of caregivers and youth. For 18 of 21 victimization types, male perpetration was significantly more common than female perpetration. Perpetrator-victim patterns revealed that most forms of physical assault and bullying showed a predominantly male-on-male pattern. All forms of sexual assault, plus kidnapping, showed a predominantly male-on-female pattern. Nonphysical maltreatment showed a mixed pattern, with fairly similar rates across all four gender configurations. Many violence types were more severe when perpetrated by males versus females as indicated by higher injury rates and greater victim fear. Higher order analyses by victimization type indicated, among other findings, that victimization types with more stranger perpetrators had more male perpetrators, victimizations with higher percentages of male-on-female and female-on-male incidents were more likely to be sexual offenses, and higher percentages of female-on-female incidents were associated with verbal victimizations. Results also suggest that males are more likely to aggress in more impersonal contexts compared to females. Gender socialization, physical power, and social power appear to intersect in ways that create gendered patterns of violence. These factors, versus a focus on skills deficits, need more attention in prevention and intervention.

Parents' experiences of reporting child sexual abuse in urban Tanzania.

This article reports parental experiences of legally reporting child sexual abuse in Tanzania. Based on in-depth interviews, four types of sexual abuse incidents are portrayed. Each evokes different reactions from parents and the community. An incident characterized as the innocent child was associated with a determination to seek justice. The forced-sex youth elicited feelings of parental betrayal of their child. The consenting curious youth resulted in uncertainty of how to proceed, while the transactional-sex youth evoked a sense of parental powerlessness to control the child because of low economic status. Differentiating between types of sexual abuse incidents may increase awareness of the complexities of child sexual abuse reporting. Education on laws regulating sexual offenses and a functional national child protection system are needed to address child sexual abuse complexities and safeguard the rights of children in Tanzania.

Suicidal thoughts/behaviors in sexually abused children.

This study examined the frequency of suicidality based on self-report and parent report in 430 sexually abused outpatient youth ages 3 to 17. Thirty-four percent of youth experienced suicidal ideation or behavior. However, when both parent and child completed measures, the rate of suicidality increased to 45.3%. The prevalence of suicidal thoughts and behavior was not higher based on relationship to the perpetrator, race, or previous placement outside the home. Suicidal youth rated themselves as more depressed, anxious, and angry on self-reports. Child self-reports of post-traumatic stress disorder were greater among the suicidal youth. Parent reports of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder were greater among suicidal youth. A logistic regression model including Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children Depression and Anger scores correctly classified 74.2% of suicidal and nonsuicidal children and adolescents, but not self-criticism, was predicted by depression and anger. These findings support the need for formal multi-informant evaluations of suicidality in sexually abused youth.

Understanding the Offline Criminal Behavior of Individuals Who Live Stream Child Sexual Abuse.

Live streaming of child sexual abuse (CSA) involves the procurement and viewing of sexual abuse of children across the internet in real time, in exchange for money. These offenses leave little tangible evidence of the offense beyond a financial transaction, and metadata relating to the live-streaming session. This research analyzed the demographic, criminal history, and financial transaction characteristics of 209 individuals who live streamed child sexual abuse. A machine learning clustering technique was implemented to consider whether there were sub-groups present among these offenders, and in particular the prevalence of contact sexual offending among any detected sub-groups. Findings revealed that offenders tend to engage in live streaming around the same age, before making regular transactions with facilitators at brief intervals, with the majority of offenders featuring limited criminal history. This analysis identified a notable sub-group of live-streaming offenders that also engaged in contact sexual offending. This is the first study to empirically demonstrate an intersection between live streaming of CSA, and contact sexual offenses against children and adults. This research highlighted the importance of financial transactions data in detecting, and disrupting this crime type. Further, the identification of an intersection between live-streaming CSA offenders, and contact sexual offenders suggests that these individuals may pose a risk to both local and international communities.

Childhood sexual abuse and the risk for recurrent major depression in Chinese women.

BACKGROUND: Studies in Western countries have repeatedly shown that women with a history of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) are at increased risk for developing major depression (MD). Would this relationship be found in China? METHOD: Three levels of CSA (non-genital, genital, and intercourse) were assessed by self-report in two groups of Han Chinese women: 1970 clinically ascertained with recurrent MD and 2597 matched controls. Diagnostic and other risk factor information was assessed at personal interview. Odds ratios (ORs) were calculated by logistic regression and regression coefficients by linear or Poisson regression. RESULTS: Any form of CSA was significantly associated with recurrent MD [OR 3.26, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.95-5.45]. This association strengthened with increasing CSA severity: non-genital (OR 2.47, 95% CI 1.17-5.23), genital (OR 2.77, 95% CI 1.32-5.83) and intercourse (OR 13.35, 95% CI 1.83-97.42). The association between any form of CSA and MD remained significant after accounting for parental history of depression, childhood emotional neglect (CEN), childhood physical abuse (CPA) and parent-child relationship. Among the depressed women, those with CSA had an earlier age of onset, longer depressive episodes and an increased risk for generalized anxiety disorder (GAD; OR 1.92, 95% CI 1.39-2.66) and dysthymia (OR 2.16, 95% CI 1.52-3.09). CONCLUSIONS: In Chinese women CSA is strongly associated with MD and this association increases with greater severity of CSA. Depressed women with CSA have an earlier age of onset, longer depressive episodes and increased co-morbidity with GAD and dysthymia. Although reporting biases cannot be ruled out, our results are consistent with the hypothesis that, as in Western countries, CSA substantially increases the risk for MD in China.

Childhood sexual abuse and psychosis: data from a cross-sectional national psychiatric survey in England.

BACKGROUND: A number of studies in a range of samples attest a link between childhood sexual abuse and psychosis. AIMS: To use data from a large representative general population sample (Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey 2007) to test hypotheses that childhood sexual abuse is linked to psychosis, and that the relationship is consistent with mediation by revictimisation experiences, heavy cannabis use, anxiety and depression. METHOD: The prevalence of psychosis was established operationally in a representative cross-sectional survey of the adult household population of England (n = 7353). Using computer-assisted self-interview, a history of various forms of sexual abuse was established, along with the date of first abuse. RESULTS: Sexual abuse before the age of 16 was strongly associated with psychosis, particularly if it involved non-consensual sexual intercourse (odds ratio (OR) = 10.14, 95% CI 4.8-21.3, population attributable risk fraction 14%). There was evidence of partial mediation by anxiety and depression, but not by heavy cannabis use nor revictimisation in adulthood. CONCLUSIONS: The association between childhood sexual abuse and psychosis was large, and may be causal. These results have important implications for the nature and aetiology of psychosis, for its treatment and for primary prevention.

An exploratory study of Internet-initiated sexual offenses and the chat room sex offender: has the Internet enabled a new typology of sex offender?

This exploratory study examined 51 participants convicted of an Internet-initiated sex offense in which they attempted to entice an adolescent into a sexual relationship using an Internet chat room. All participants were convicted of a sex offense and subject to an evaluation as a part of sentencing requirements in Colorado. Clinical and behavioral data were obtained from each subject's offense-specific evaluation and chat room transcripts. The results of the study found that 90% of the participants were apprehended as a result of an Internet sex sting. The authors conclude that Internet chat room sex offenders constitute a separate group characterized by less severe criminogenic factors than other sex offenders (rapists, child molesters). It can be hypothesized that chat room sex offenders avoid relationships and spend a significant amount of time in online chat rooms as a primary social and sexual outlet, and engage in other sexually compulsive behaviors. Within this offender group, it was discovered that two subgroups exist: a contact-driven group motivated to engage in offline sexual behavior with an adolescent and a fantasy-driven group motivated to engage an adolescent in online cybersex without an express intent to meet offline. The chat room sex offender presents a significant clinical issue to treatment providers as a live victim does not exist. Thus, it is unclear if Internet sex stings prevent incidents of child sexual exploitation and may result in convictions of individuals who may never have abused a child. The data suggest a tentative sex offender typology, including subtypes, which need to be replicated in future studies.

Pedophilia: an evaluation of diagnostic and risk prediction methods.

One hundred thirty child sexual abusers were diagnosed using each of following four methods: (a) phallometric testing, (b) strict application of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed., text revision [DSM-IV-TR]) criteria, (c) Rapid Risk Assessment of Sex Offender Recidivism (RRASOR) scores, and (d) "expert" diagnoses rendered by a seasoned clinician. Comparative utility and intermethod consistency of these methods are reported, along with recidivism data indicating predictive validity for risk management. Results suggest that inconsistency exists in diagnosing pedophilia, leading to diminished accuracy in risk assessment. Although the RRASOR and DSM-IV-TR methods were significantly correlated with expert ratings, RRASOR and DSM-IV-TR were unrelated to each other. Deviant arousal was not associated with any of the other methods. Only the expert ratings and RRASOR scores were predictive of sexual recidivism. Logistic regression analyses showed that expert diagnosis did not add to prediction of sexual offence recidivism over and above RRASOR alone. Findings are discussed within a context of encouragement of clinical consistency and evidence-based practice regarding treatment and risk management of those who sexually abuse children.

Heterogeneity of individuals with a history of child sexual abuse: an examination of children presenting to treatment.

The current study examined children and families who presented for treatment through Project SAFE (Sexual Abuse Family Education) following childhood sexual abuse. Pretreatment assessment data were used to develop clusters of participants with significantly differing presentation of symptom outcome following abuse. Four clusters were discovered: (a) a Highly Distressed group, whose members had clinically elevated scores on all self- and parent-report measures; (b) a Problem Behaviors group, whose members had scores within the normal range for self-report measures and elevated scores on all parent-report measures; (c) a Subclinical group, whose participants had scores below the mean and below cutoff scores for all self- and parent-report measures; and (d) a Self-reported Distress group, whose members had elevated scores on self-report measures and scores below clinical cutoffs for all parent-report measures.

Sexual arousal to female children in gynephilic men.

Phallometric assessments of single-victim sexual offenders against children have suggested that only about 50% of these men are more attracted to children than they are to adults. This has raised the question of what motivates the other 50% of men to approach young girls for sex. Freund et al. showed that gynephilic men (i.e., men preferentially attracted to adult women) evidenced greater arousal to images of prepubescent girls than to images of males of any age or to nonerotic images, arguing that gynephilic men may approach prepubescent girls as a "surrogate" for their preferred erotic targets (i.e., adult women). One might argue that these phallometric results are artifactual, given that they were obtained in a time period during which images of nudity were far less common than they are today (thus any female nudity might have elicited arousal). To address this issue, the authors examined the sexual arousal patterns of 214 contemporary men who, based on self-report, offense history, and phallometric responses, were purely gynephilic. Results showed the "classical control profile": the greatest arousal to adult women, systematically decreasing arousal as the female stimuli became younger, and essentially no arousal to any age categories of males or to neutral (nonerotic) stimuli. Arousal to both pubescent and prepubescent girls was significantly greater than to neutral stimuli (p < .001 for both). Thus, Freund et al.'s results still appear to be valid, and the explanation for child molesting that they suggest still seems to be feasible.

An evaluation of classification criteria for juvenile sex offenders.

Victim age is commonly used in the classification of juvenile sexual offenders (JSOs). However, the results of studies comparing JSOs who offend peers (peer offenders) with those who offend children (child molesters) are variable and inconclusive. Reasons for this variability include the lack of attention to JSOs who offend both children and peers (mixed offenders) and the variability across studies in the classification criteria used to assign JSOs to subgroups. Some studies use victim age, others use offender-victim age discrepancies, and still others use a combination of victim age and age discrepancies to classify JSOs. These variations may result in samples of JSOs that are not comparable across studies. The primary purpose of the present research was to examine the strength of the relationship between JSO subgroup membership (child, peer, and mixed offenders) and personal, criminal history, and offense history variables using several different classification methods commonly used in JSO research. Patterns of relationships between subgroup membership and the dependent variables were then compared across the classification methods to determine whether changes in classification criteria changed the pattern of results. The results indicated that the pattern of relationships between subgroups and the dependent variables changed little when classification criteria varied. Consequently, variation in classification criteria is unlikely to be contributing to the inconsistencies of the findings when comparing victim age based subgroups of JSOs.

Classes of childhood sexual abuse and women's adult couple relationships.

The current study assessed if childhood sexual abuse (CSA) can be meaningfully classified into classes, based on the assumption that abuse by a close family member differs in important ways from other abuse, and whether abuse classes were differentially associated with couple relationship problems. The childhood experiences and adult relationships of 1335 Australian women (18-41 years) were assessed. Latent class analysis identified three classes of CSA: that perpetrated by a family member, friend, or stranger, which differed markedly on most aspects of the abuse. Family abuse was associated with the highest risk for adult relationship problems, with other classes of CSA having a significant but weaker association with adult relationship problems. CSA is heterogeneous with respect the long-term consequences for adult relationship functioning.