Title: Child Sexual Abuse Facts & Resources – Children's Assessment Center
Headings: Child Sexual Abuse Facts & Resources
Child Sexual Abuse Facts & Resources
What is Child Sexual Abuse?
How often does Child Sexual Abuse take place?
FACT: The real prevalence of child sexual abuse is not known because so many victims do not disclose or report their abuse. Researchers have suggested rates varying from 1% to 35%. Most professionals in the field of abuse use rates from 8% to 20%.
FACT: Even if the true prevalence of child sexual abuse is not known, most will agree that there will be 500,000 babies born in the US this year that will be sexually abused before they turn 18 if we do not prevent it.
FACT: Most people think of adult rape as a crime of great proportion and significance. Most are unaware that children are victimized at a much higher rate than adults.
Are there certain factors that make a child more vulnerable to Child Sexual Abuse?
FACT: Children of every gender, age, race, ethnicity, background, socioeconomic status and family structure are at risk. No child is immune.
FACT: Family and acquaintance child sexual abuse perpetrators have reported that they look for specific characteristics in the children they choose to abuse.
FACT: There are child and family characteristics that significantly heighten or lower risk of sexual abuse. The following risk factors are based on reported and identified cases of abuse.
Who are the Perpetrators?
When, Where and How does Child Sexual Abuse happen?
FACT: Many perpetrators “groom” victims and their families.
FACT: Child sexual abuse often takes place under specific, often surprising circumstances. It is helpful to know these circumstances because it allows for the development of strategies to avoid child sexual abuse.
What are the Signs of Possible Sexual Abuse?
What are the Long Term Consequences of Child Sexual Abuse for Society?
FACT: Child sexual abuse plays an important role in the cost of mental health services.
FACT: Teen pregnancy is a long-term, expensive societal problem. Child sexual abuse is a major factor in teenage pregnancy rates.
FACT: Over-sexualized behavior, common for child sexual abuse victims, can lead to an increased risk of sexually-transmitted diseases.

Content: Conte et al., 1989). Perpetrators employ successively inappropriate comments and increasingly inappropriate touches and behaviors so insidious that the abuse is often well under way before the child recognizes the situation as sexual or inappropriate (Berliner & Conte, 1990; Conte et al., 1989). Strategies employed to gain the compliance of victims include the addition and withdrawal of inducements (attention, material goods, and privileges), misrepresentation of society’s morals and standards and/or the abusive acts themselves, and externalization of responsibility for the abuse onto the victim (Berliner & Conte, 1990; Conte et al., 1989). 35% of convicted child molesters use threats of violence to keep children from disclosing the abuse. General threats and physical force are also used to prevent detection (Ohio Department of Corrections, 1992).