Regular readers of our Salem Abuse Prevention Blog will undoubtedly recall that we recently published a post about the release of a study of revictimization of child sexual abuse survivors.
Factors in revictimization
In an article about their study, Australian researchers wrote that they examined “the links between child sex abuse and re-victimization later in life,” and why the links exist and to help determine which factors make a child survivor more likely and less likely to be revictimized as an adult.
The study titled “Child Sexual Abuse and Risk of Revictimization: Impact of Child Demographics, Sexual Abuse Characteristics, and Psychiatric Disorders” was published in the Sage journal of Child Maltreatment.
The researchers found that about two-thirds of the child sexual abuse survivors they studied were not revictimized later in their lives.
More findings
Among their other findings about survivors of child sexual abuse:
- They are five times more likely than the general public to be victims of sexual assault later in life
- They’re twice as likely to be victims of physical assault
- They are four times as likely to be threatened with violence
- They’re twice as likely to be stalked
The researchers also determined that revictimization is not limited to women. Male child sexual abuse survivors are seven times more likely to be victims of sexual assault later in life than men in the general population.
The study also looked at the roles of personal factors in revictimization, including gender, the age at which the child abuse occurred, the type of abuse and its frequency. Researchers also studied the different types of mental health issues experienced by the survivors.
We’ll have more on the study in an upcoming blog post. Please check back.
