Study on the risk factors and characteristics on childhood sexual abuses among female students in a college

OBJECTIVE: To study the risk factors and abusers' characteristics on childhood sexual abuses among female students to provide reference data for preventive measures on child sexual abuse. METHODS: Annonymous questionnaire survey of 701 adult female students in a college about their personal experience on childhood sexual abuses, their home conditions and abusers' characteristics. RESULTS: A total number of 701 female students were surveyed. 115 (22.11%) experienced non-physical contact sexual abuses before the age of 18, including 26 (3.71%) who suffered from attempted and 8 (1.14%) were forced with genital or anal sexual intercourse. 117 (16.69%) said they had suffered from sexual abuse before the age of 16. Most abusers were males (99.4%) and only a small percentage of them (3.2%) used violence. Most non-physical contact sexual abuses were from strangers (78.7%), while 71.3% of physical contact abuses were from acquaintances including 12.5% of them were teachers, 17.5% were neighbors and 21.3% were relatives. The risk factors of child sexual abuses were: frequent use of violence, bad hobbies and poor health conditions of parents, tight family relationships, and living in remarried families. Having well-educated fathers was a preventive factor. CONCLUSION: Studies on childhood sexual abuses among females revealed that the incidents were not rare, and family environment played an important role. Language: zh