Men are the offenders in most child sexual abuse ; women are the offenders in around 10 % of the cases . Causal factors of child sex offenders are not known conclusively . The experience of sexual abuse as a child was previously thought to be a strong risk factor , but research does not show a causal relationship , as the vast majority of sexually abused children do not grow up to be adult offenders , nor do the majority of adult offenders report childhood sexual abuse .