Child Sexual Abuse Detection and Prevention - Essay Example

Due to the traumatizing nature of sexual abuse, effective treatment approaches and prevention strategies have recently been developed (Roberts & Miltenberger 1999). This research discusses on of the most traumatic dilemma faced by all the societies of the world: Child Sexual Abuse. Special emphasis has been laid on the detection (in terms of symptoms) and prevention (including laws) of child sexual abuse. The problem of child sexual abuse warrants serious consideration by society as a whole.

Prevalence of the problem has been suggested to include almost one-quarter of the nation's population (Finkelhor et al., 1990). As a result of sexual abuse, a variety of emotional and behavioral problems may develop and continue into the young victim's adulthood. Due to the traumatizing nature of sexual abuse, effective treatment approaches and prevention strategies have recently been developed (Roberts & Miltenberger 1999). Child sexual abuse can be defined as any sexual activity, overt or covert, between a child and an adult (or older child, where the younger child's participation is obtained through seduction or coercion) (Ratican 1992).

It generally has a significant negative and pervasive psychological impact on its victims (Browne & Finkelhor, 1986). Russell (1986) found that female sexual abuse survivors had a significantly greater number of negative life experiences, such as repeated victimization, marital and family instability, and decreases in socioeconomic status, than did those who had not been abused. Briere and his associates found significantly higher levels of psychological symptoms among both male and female survivors than among non-abused adults in clinical and nonclinical samples (Briere, Evans, et al.

, 1988; Briere & Runtz, 1988). Child sexual abuse is an etiological factor in some of the most severe mental disorders (Ratican 1992), including dissociative disorders, anxiety disorders, eating disorders, sexual disorders, affective disorders, personality disorders, and substance abuse (Gelinas, 1983). It is thought to be a major cause of borderline and multiple personality disorders and may be a contributing factor in many others, such as paranoid and obsessive-compulsive and passive-aggressive disorders (Saltman & Solomon, 1982; Wheeler & Walton, 1987).

Chapter 2: Data AnalysisResearch findings have suggested that between two and four females out of 10 have been sexually abused (Wilcox, Richards & O'Keeffe 2004), while approximately half as many males have been sexually abused (Cawson et al., 2000). (It should be borne in mind, however, that prevalence rates vary depending on how abuse is defined.) The literature also indicates that non-contact offences are reported less often, as well as incest offences (Wilcox, Richards & O'Keeffe 2004). General population estimates would suggest that one in 100 children are sexually abused by a father or father figure (Laurance, 2000).

It is of considerable interest that estimates further suggested that two in 100 children are sexually abused by siblings. In respect of issues concerning the traumatic effects of sexual abuse, it seems significant that, despite these statistics, fathers