Journal of Child Sexual Abuse最新文献

Many nationally representative datasets are available for assessing the magnitude, trend, and risk for child sexual victimization in the United States. Unfortunately, the disaggregation of sexual violence into more specific sex crimes and the reliable measurement of these specific acts are often avoided by researchers due to the methodological limitations of victimization data. For example, previous scholars have successfully measured the strength of the relationship between the commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) and child sexual abuse (CSA) within their respective samples; however, little is known about the extent to which CSEC occurs in the larger U.S. population, irrespective of past CSA. This study presents new analyses of publicly available representative data on the incidence, trend, and risk for CSA and CSEC independent of one another. We find that significantly more is known about CSA than CSEC. In addition, while victims of CSA and CSEC share many risk factors, CSA is far more common than CSEC, and their trends are going in different directions. We find that rates of CSA and CSEC are often derived from data with significant methodological limitations, such as administrative datasets that are limited to only victimizations reported to governmental agencies or representative surveys that measure the incidence/prevalence in one year alone, not repeatedly as required to assess trends. We fill in some of the gaps existing in our analyses with a review of other studies examining CSA and CSEC, as well as discuss future directions in research that researchers and child welfare practitioners should consider.

Although there has been a large body of research conducted on girl and young women victims of commercial sexual exploitation, boy and young men victims do not receive the same attention. The scant research that exists demonstrates mixed findings on the prevalence of boys and young men as victims of commercial sexual exploitation. For example, some studies find they are not as likely to be victims and others find they are victimized equally, or in some cases, potentially even more so than girls and young women, depending on location. ECPAT published a study in 2013 that revealed a lack of awareness and misclassification of boys as victims and the lack of services available to help them. The purpose of this study is to replicate the ECPAT study and determine what changes might have occurred over the past decade. We consulted with key individuals involved in serving boys and young men and conducted a survey of anti-trafficking service agencies to gather current information on the boys/young men being referred to them for care, the dynamics of their victimization, their most pressing needs, the services/programs being offered, and gaps in service in their respective locations. Among other relevant findings, one commonality among the boys and young men served by the responding agencies was a history of sexual abuse. Findings inform service providers and contribute to advocacy efforts and policy recommendations at the local, state, and federal levels.

Women and girls remain substantially overrepresented in the commercial sex industry. While a number of outcomes have been linked to childhood abuse and involvement with the commercial sex industry, there exists a gap in understanding the unique impact of child abuse on child custody outcomes among adult women involved in the commercial sex industry. Drawing from data collected from 107 case files of adult women with a history of commercial sex industry involvement, the aim of the current study was to understand the link between child abuse history, commercial sex industry involvement, and child custody outcomes. Results indicated that among women who reported a history of child sex trafficking, 91.7% reported having endured child abuse. Further, 82.4% of women reported that their children were not under their custody. Dysfunctional family dynamics, substance abuse, and economic and structural barriers endured by these women are explored further, and intergenerational continuity of such traumagenic precarities is considered as a prolonged implication of such issues. Through a trauma-informed perspective, implications for prevention and intervention are discussed.

Literature on human trafficking suggests the vulnerability to commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) and child sexual abuse (CSA) changes by the prevalence of certain risk factors (e.g., runaway), trafficker-used lures (e.g., isolation), and the environmental conditions present at the time of victimization (e.g., foster care). Often, youth in foster care are at high risk for CSEC and CSA victimization associated with runaway instances. This scoping review aims to identify prevention and intervention strategies for CSEC/CSA of youth who run away from foster care. PRISMA scoping review guidelines were followed to review the literature across two search parameters (CSEC; CSA). An electronic review was conducted between August 2022 and January 2023 across four databases: PubMed, SAGE Journals Online, ScienceDirect, and Web of Science. The CSEC and CSA search parameters comprised three domains (sexual exploitation, foster care, and runaway; sexual abuse, foster care, and runaway, respectively). Literature published between 2012 and 2022 was included regardless of the methodological approach. Literature not concerning youth who run from foster care was excluded. Database searches yielded 206 publications for CSEC and 351 for CSA, reduced to 185 and 212, respectively, after removing duplicates. Seventy-one articles were identified, of which, 64 articles (28 CSEC, 36 CSA) were categorized as prevention strategies and seven (five CSEC, two CSA) as interventions. The intersection and dual victimization of CSEC and CSA of youth who run away from foster care are discussed. This paper also discusses applied behavior analysis principles for developing function-based interventions.

Despite awareness about high rates of sexual abuse among girls in the juvenile justice system, little is known about the additional risk conferred upon sexually diverse (SD) youths, as well as the combined vulnerability of sexual abuse and commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) - frequently a survival behavior amplifying disproportionate juvenile justice contact among SD and non-SD juvenile justice-involved (JJI) girls. In a sample of JJI-girls, we compared SD (n = 52) with non-SD (n = 46) JJI-girls on sexual victimization (e.g. sexual abuse occurring within different relationship-types, CSEC), and broader developmental adversity burden disadvantage (cumulative trauma/loss exposure-types) and distress (posttraumatic stress disorder [PTSD]; cumulative stressor-reactivity, grief-specific, and adversity-related symptoms), health distress/impairment, and sexual and physical health-risk indicators. While comparable on childhood sexual abuse frequency, SD JJI-girls reported greater cumulative sexual abuse severity across relationship-types, higher sexual abuse within non-familial contexts, and more CSEC involvement. They also reported more social determinants of health (e.g. trauma/loss exposure-types) and showed elevations on all health-risk indicators, and most cumulative adversity burden indicators, despite comparable PTSD severity. Our findings emphasize the need to consider multiple sexual victimization facets, including the combined vulnerability of sexual abuse and CSEC, and utilize cumulative developmental assessment approaches among youths vulnerable to maltreatment and exploitation.

Technology-facilitated sexual violence (TFSV) is a ubiquitous societal problem with negative health consequences. Child and Adolescent Psychiatric (CAP) patients are burdened with more violence exposure than other groups, but more work is needed to chart their exposure to TFSV specifically and to understand how it relates to their mental health. In this study, we aimed to investigate the occurrence of unwanted online sexual solicitation (UOSS) in a young Swedish psychiatric sample. We also aimed to measure the associations between psychiatric symptoms and exposure to UOSS, offline sexual harassment, cyberbullying, and offline bullying. We also aimed to analyze possible differences between boys and girls. Our results show a high occurrence of UOSS (48.61%), which is higher than in the general population. UOSS was significantly higher among girls (57.31%) than boys (20.59%), but boys in the CAP group were burdened with more UOSS victimization than boys in general. Co-occurrence of UOSS with other types of offline and online harassment was substantial. UOSS, together with age and offline sexual harassment, predicted anxiety and depressive symptoms among both girls and boys. UOSS also showed a significant interaction effect with gender, suggesting that boys exposed to UOSS suffer higher levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms than girls exposed to UOSS. Preventing and treating mental health difficulties needs to consider contextual circumstances such as exposure to sexual violence online.

Comparing women's and men's sexual offending patterns in educational settings is a relatively recent empirical endeavor. Accordingly, gender-based examinations of schools' management of sexual allegations are lacking. We address this gap by drawing on a unique administrative dataset from an Australian jurisdiction that captures alleged improper sexual conduct by educational employees. We compare 809 female- and male-perpetrated cases reported between 2015 and 2019 with respect to event, location, victim, and perpetrator characteristics, as well as the ensuing risk management strategies and sanctions. Compared to men, reported women were younger, employed on more secure employment arrangements, and less often had a relevant discipline history. Most alleged event characteristics did not significantly differ based on perpetrator gender. Women's alleged perpetration, however, more often occurred in places external to school and involved more serious sexual victimization of comparatively older male students. After controlling for event, victim, perpetrator, and allegation characteristics there was nearly no support for a gender bias in institutional responses. However, a lack of any action was more often observed in female-perpetrated cases under very specific and limited conditions. Resultant implications for the management and oversight of employee-related allegations are discussed.

This article brings attention to cardinal principles to consider when implementing the Therapeutic Jurisprudence multidisciplinary approach with youth who are manifesting sustained coarse sexual improprieties and come to the attention of the judicial system. The obstacles of implementing therapeutic jurisprudence with this population include the persistent reliance of researchers on adult paradigms for risk assessment tools, along with treatment models that are not developmentally and gender sensitive, nor empirically supported for youth. Adherence to the scientific method is essential when constructing risk assessment tools that meet forensic standards. Applying the rich collateral paradigm of therapeutic jurisprudence within the context of valid and reliable measurements of intervention outcomes would immensely benefit those youth entangled with judicial systems who repeatedly are victims of abuse (neglect, maltreatment, physical and/or sexual). Youth who become entangled with the judicial system as dependents, and/or suspected or charged with criminal activity, need additional collateral resources geared toward ongoing developmental needs and specific to gender. Practical considerations and recommendations are made in contemplating expanding Therapeutic Jurisprudence with youth who engage in sustained sexually harmful behaviors to self and others.