WASHINGTON -- One out of every three adults in the

United States -- and nearly one out of every four teenagers -- personally knows someone who was sexually abused as a child or teenager, according to a new national survey released last month by the Center for Child Protection and Family Support.

   

"Our poll found personal knowledge of child and teen sexual abuse in America has become widespread," said Joyce N. Thomas, president of the Center based in Washington, D.C.  "It is no longer a 'closet secret' whispered among a few unfortunate victims and their families.

   

"The truly disturbing news, however, is not the high level of personal awareness of child and teen sexual abuse in America -- but rather the increasing number of innocent victims we know it now claims.  We can't keep turning our heads away, hoping this emotional and social blight on our young and our country is going away on its own.  The problem of child and teen

sexual abuse is pervasive -- and cries out for our serious response to this gross violation of their human rights."

   

The survey, conducted by International Communications Research (ICR) of Media, Pa., was part of a national telephone study to determine the prevalence

of child sexual abuse in the United States. The Center commissioned ICR to do

the nationally projectable study.  Separate studies were conducted among two groups:  adults and teenagers. The sample size for the adult research

interviews was a minimum of 1,000 interviews, equally divided between men and

women. The sample size for the teenage research was 500 interviews with teens

between the ages of 12 to 17. A sample balancing program was used to ensure that, when tabulated, the respective samples are reflective of the national adult and teen populations.

   

About one out of three (35 percent) of the adults

interviewed reported knowing someone who was the victim of sexual abuse as a

child or teenager.  Nearly three-fifths (59.1 percent) of those who knew a victim

were female, and over two-fifths (40.9 percent) were male. Almost 40 percent

of the adult females interviewed knew someone who was the victim of sexual

abuse as a child or a teenager, and nearly a third (29.7 percent) of the adult males

knew one.

   

The study indicates that the higher the education, the more respondents

reported knowing someone who was sexually abused. Also, more individuals with

incomes of $75,000 and higher reported knowing someone who was sexually abused

(43.6 percent) than those at lower income levels. Knowledge of incidences of sexual

abuse was nearly the same across all the ethnic groups represented in the

study. The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points in the adult

survey and 4.5 percentage points in the teen survey.

   

One out of every four (24.7 percent) teen interviewed

reported knowing someone who was the victim of sexual abuse as a child or

teenager.  Nearly 60 percent of the respondents knowing a victim

were female and slightly more than 40 percent were males. A higher

number of reports came from teens in the ninth (26.8 percent) and 10th grades

(23.1 percent) than from other grades.  For example, only 0.3 percent of those who reported

knowing a victim were in fifth grade.  The breakdown for areas of the country

where the data indicates the highest number of teens knowing a victim was:

23.2 percent from the East North Central region (Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin,

and Indiana) and 30 percent from the South Atlantic region (Delaware, Maryland, West

Virginia, Virginia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and

District of Columbia).

    

"Our country pays a dear price for the shameful abuse and neglect of its

children in the most privileged country in the history of the world," Thomas

pointed out.  "We see the emotional and social toll reflected in the break-up

or decline of our families and our institutions, in our rate of crime and in

our prisons, in the cost of our medical and mental health care, and in the

loss of productivity in our economy and in workers' lives.  America cannot

afford to turn its back on the young entrusted to its care, without risking

closing the door on its own future. We all have the responsibility to protect our children against abuse," she said.  "Every child deserves a childhood that is free from abuse and

neglect."

 

The Center for Child Protection and Family Support of Washington, D.C. is

a leader in the field of high-risk families, child maltreatment, cultural

competency, and youth violence prevention.  As a 501(c)(3) non-profit agency,

the Center has served children and families for more than 17 years in the

Washington metropolitan area, and nationally.

   

The Center's mission is to ensure that all children -- but particularly

inner-city and disadvantaged children -- are given the opportunity to mature

and develop within a family free of maltreatment, and a community that

nurtures and protects them from violence.  Prevention, education, early

intervention, and mental health treatments are the focal point of the Center's

approach for working with child victims and their families. 

 

Source: Center for Child Protection and Family Support