Authors: Paul E Bebbington S Jonas T Brugha H Meltzer R Jenkins C Cooper M King S McManus
Publish Date: 2010/06/11
Volume: 46, Issue: 3, Pages: 255-262
Abstract
The 2007 adult psychiatric morbidity survey in England provides detailed information of high quality about sexual abuse Given the major psychiatric implications of child sexual abuse CSA we aimed to establish its sociodemographic distribution in the general populationThe experience of sexual abuse was elicited in a random sample of the English household population N = 7353 using computer assisted selfcompletion interviewing Respondents were handed a laptop and entered their responses to detailed questions The interviewer was blind to their responses CSA was defined as occurring before the age of 1629 of women and 08 of men reported CSA involving nonconsensual intercourse figures that rose to 111 and 53 if experiences involving sexual touching were included CSA was common before puberty but peaked in adolescence CSA greatly increased the chance in adulthood both of further sexual abuse OR 106 CI 89–126 and of prostitution OR 33 CI 19–55 There was no association with ethnicity or social class but people over 65 were less likely to report CSA The odds of CSA were doubled in those not brought up with both biological parents until the age of 16
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