Child Abuse and Revicitmization

Studies have shown a clear correlation between childhood sexual assault (CSA) and negative sexual experiences later in life. Of relevance to the criminal justice system, these later forms of sexual victimization include sexual assault and sex work. The relationship between CSA and adverse sexual development is a correlation between two things, not a direct pathway from cause to effect. While survivors of sexual assault are at a higher risk of experiencing these later forms of victimization, this correlation represents a highly complex process involving a wide range of mediating factors and the intersections between them. Any experience of sexual assault is highly traumatic. Survivors of CSA, however, represent a unique population, because their trauma occurs near the start of the human developmental process and therefore alters all development thereafter.

Being sexually abused is a very traumatizing experience, and this form of victimization at a young age only amplifies the situation. The mortifying nature of child sexual abuse often brings along with it changes in the victim's life. Some of the numerous short term effects (problems that impact them while they are still at a young

I was raised by a single mother in Massachusetts in the 1980s. In 1983, when I was five years old, I was “kidnapped” by the teenage nephew of our neighbors and held in their root cellar for roughly 12 hours. I write “kidnapped” because even though what happened to me was not technically a kidnapping – I wasn’t held for ransom or for more than twenty-four hours, it was the only word that I had at my disposal to describe my experience. Because I was five and no one had explained to me what sexual assault, molestation or rape was. In America it is estimated that nearly 1 in 5 women has experienced or will experience a rape in her lifetime (Black, et al. 2011). I am just one of the estimated 42 million survivors of childhood sexual abuse

The rediscovery of child abuse can be largely contributed to the news media for highlighting the inhumane treatment of children by parents and guardians. Many children were being viciously punished by parents and guardians as a form of corrective training. The harsh punishment and beating would have resulted in severe injuries to the child and their wellbeing. The disturbing circumstances reported by the media drew strong condemnation from people and organization around the nation. The highlighted problem by the media helped mobilize a very strong social movement to deal with the problems and issues relating to child abuse. The movement then quickly highlighted some very important aspect of child abuse such as sexual exploitation, incest, gross

Physical abuse of a child is when a parent or caregiver causes any non-accidental physical harm to a child. Physical abuse may include, but is not limited to: striking, kicking, burning, biting, hair pulling, choking, throwing, shoving, or whipping. Even if the caregiver did not mean to cause harm, if the child is injured, the action is considered abuse.  Physical discipline from a parent that does not injure or impair a child is not considered abuse; however, non-violent alternatives are always available. There are signs that a parent or caregiver is causing physical harm to the child, and they include but are not limited to a history of violence/abuse, that keeps the child away from school, church, or clubs, delays or prevents medical care for the child, takes the child to different doctors or hospitals, displays aggression towards the child, is overly anxious about the child’s behavior, and last, cannot or will not explain the injuries of the child, or

Immediately upon hearing about another abusive case in the news, many people’s minds are triggered to automatically associate violence in relationships with adults. In reality, our society is often unaware that 1 in 3 teens experience dating violence on a daily basis. This is a total of 1.5 million students across the country, according to the National Dating Abuse Hotline and awareness group, Break the Cycle. Meaning, in an average American graduating class of three hundred, one hundred of those students will have experienced forms of physical, emotional, psychological, sexual, verbal, financial, technological or spiritual/cultural abuse. “Dating violence is controlling, abusive, and aggressive behavior in

The subject of victimization and childhood trauma and neglect, especially sexual victimization is in desperate need of additional awareness despite the increase in the research literature over the past three decades. Youth who experience any form of victimization, whether it be sexual, emotional, and/or physical throughout their childhood are known to have difficulties in their childhood and adolescent development (McCuish, Cale & Corrado, 2015). The abuse they experience can be from their caregivers, sexual victimization by acquaintances and strangers, assaults by peers and can be exposed to violence in their neighborhoods (Finkelhor, Ormrod, Turner and Holt, 2009).

These schemas, such as abuse is a way of showing love or connecting with someone, may influence and motivate adult interpersonal behavior, thereby increasing the likelihood of subsequent victimization or perpetration of abuse (Cloitre, Cohen, & Scarvalone, 2002). Revictimization, including intimate partner violence, and perpetration, such as abusing one’s child, are well documented among survivors of childhood abuse, and each has consistently been found as a significant correlate of child abuse history (Rodriguez et al.,

And of the women who are sexually abused as adults, 65% of them were sexually abused as a child, compared to 35% who were not sexually abused as a child (Chu, 1992). The goal is to understand to what degree sexual violence revictimization occurs for women given the degree and nature of the abuse an individual experienced in childhood compared to those victims who did not experience any type of childhood abuse. Sexual revictimization is defined as having at least one sexual abuse experience as a child and at least one sexual abuse experience as an adult (Wyatt, Guthrie, & Notgrass, 1992). There is an urgent need to understand and identify these factors of childhood abuse that lead to sexual violence revictimization of adult women so that women who are at an increased risk are able to identify their risks and get the help that they need so that they can break the cycle of abuse before it happens again.

Research on adolescent dating violence suggested that females were more likely than males to be victimizes by their dating partners (Roscoe & Kelsey, 1986). However currently some studies have reported similar dating violence rates for men and women (Arriaga & Foshee, 2004). Some studies have reported similar dating violence victimization rates for males and females (Arriaga & Foshee, 2004). According to a recent study of approximately 2,500 students attending two lU.S. universities, 24% of males showed physical violence against a partner, 32% of females showed physical violence against a partner, 57% of females committed psychological abuse against a partner, and 50% of male respondents committed psychological abuse against a partner (Gover,

This study was limited due to the small sample size. Although the conclusions are valid, more research with a

Tragic events are reported nearly every day such as the 2009 Gabriel Myers case involving the 7-year old boy who had previously been sexually assaulted by another child and later ended his own life. The importance of child on child sexual violence/assaults tend to be overlooked by adults due to the denial of thinking the youth and/or adolescences we love cannot possibly cause abuse and harm upon another loved one(COCSA, 2014). It is reported that

The research conducted by Miller et al. (2011) confirms that physical dating violence in adolescents is common in the United States and that it is positively associated with a variety of childhood adversities. The twelve they assessed for in their study are: parental death, parental divorce, other long-term parental separation, parent’s mental illness, parental substance use disorder, parental criminality, interparental violence, serious physical illness in childhood, physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, and family economic adversity. Interparental violence, along with sexual abuse and parent mental illness, were found to be strong predictors of physical dating violence. A limitation of this research, however, is that the survey did not

In 2000, the sexual assault victimization rate for youths 12 to 17 was 2.3 times higher than for adults (U.S. Dept. of justice, Bureau of justice Statistics, 2000). Children of every gender, age, race, ethnicity, background, socioeconomic status and family are at risk. Absolutely no child is immune. Family and acquaintance child sexual abuse perpetrators have reported that they look for specific characteristics in the children they choose to abuse. Perpetrators report that they look for passive, quiet troubled, lonely children from single parent or broken homes. (Budin & Johnson 1989). They frequently seek out children who are particularly trusting (Conte et al., 1987) and work proactively to establish a trusting relationship before abusing them. Family structure is the most important risk factor in child sexual abuse. Children who live with two married biological parents are at low risk for abuse. The risk increases when children live with step- parents or a single parent. Children living without either parent (foster children) are 10 times more likely to be sexually abused than children that live with both biological parents. Gender is also a major factor in sexual abuse. Females are 5 times more likely to be abused than males (Sedlack,

Again there are limitations of the finding. The most concerning is the sample size. The low participation rate of 13.3% was not acknowledged or that the authors considered extending the study length to help improve recruitment. This may introduce random error from sampling variability, which increases as sample size decrease (Pannucci and Wilkins, 2010).