A new study suggests that child sexual abuse may be more common than suspected.

Authorities know that sexual abuse of children and adolescents can have serious health consequences for victims.

Early studies have revealed that child sexual abuse is associated with an increased risk of later mental and physical health problems and risk-taking behavior.

New forms of sexual harassment occur over the Internet and among social network sites.

A new study from the University of Zurich discovered that sexual abuse is alarmingly widespread in a representative sample of more than 6,000 9th grade students in Switzerland.

Sexual harassment via the Internet is mentioned most frequently.

Study participants reported they had experienced at least one type of child sexual abuse. Respondents were mainly between 15 and 17 years old with roughly 40 percent girls and 17 percent of boys.

Relative to boys, sexual abuse without physical contact was reported twice as often in girls and sexual abuse with physical contact without penetration three times more often.

Both genders reported “sexual harassment via the Internet” as the most frequent form of abuse.

This form of sexual abuse was experienced by roughly 28 percent of girls over the course of their lifetimes and by almost 10 percent of boys.

At just under 15 percent for girls versus 5 percent for boys, “molested verbally or by e-mail/text message” was the second most common form of abuse.

Just under 12 percent of the surveyed girls and 4 percent of the surveyed boys reported having been kissed or touched against their will.

Approximately 2.5 percent of the girls had already experienced sexual abuse with penetration (vaginal, oral, anal or other); among boys, this figure was 0.6 percent.

The results of the Zurich study are comparable to those of an earlier Swiss study which was conducted in Geneva between 1995 and 1996 in a similar age group asked similar questions.

The prevalence of sexual abuse with physical contact is almost unchanged today. However, sexual abuse without physical contact occurs far more frequently.

“We believe that this difference can be attributed to harassment via the Internet, e-mail, or text messaging. This type of sexual abuse was not surveyed back then,” said Dr. Meichun Mohler-Kuo, senior research scientist at the University of Zurich.

Just over half of the female victims and more than 70 percent of the male victims reported that they had been abused by a juvenile perpetrator.

Furthermore, most of the victims of sexual abuse with physical contact knew the perpetrator – for instance, they were partners, peers, or acquaintances.

“This new trend towards the majority being juvenile perpetrators, and being peers and acquaintances, is in contrast to the Geneva study, and might indicate increased violent behavior among adolescents,” said researcher Ulrich Schnyder, Ph.D.

He added: “Our results also differ considerably from official police reports, according to which perpetrators are usually adult, male relatives.” This would seem to indicate significant under-reporting of abuse to officials.

Only about half of victimized girls and less than one-third of victimized boys disclosed their sexual abuse experiences. The disclosure rate is even lower with more severe forms of sexual abuse.

Most victims who do disclose, do so to their peers; less than 20 percent to their families. Fewer than 10 percent of victims reported the sexual abuse to police.

“Compared to similar studies from other countries, the disclosure figures in the Swiss study are low. The reluctance in reporting incidents of this kind to family members or authorities makes timely intervention more difficult,” Schnyder said.

Source: University of Zurich

Stop sexual abuse hand photo by shutterstock.

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