The prevalence and circumstances of child sexual abuse: Changes across a decade

Objective: This study reports the prevalence of child sexual abuse of Afric an American and European American women and compares the circumstances of t hese incidents to data collected a decade ago. Method: Stratified probability sampling was used to recruit comparable samp les of African American and European American women in Los Angeles County f or a larger study of women's sexual decision making. Incidents of contact a buse were obtained from women 18 to 36 years old in 1994 and compared to wo men with those demographic characteristics from a comparable 1984 dataset. The prevalence of abuse, characteristics of the victim, assault, alleged pe rpetrator, disclosure, and long-term effects by ethnic group affiliation we re assessed. Results: Of the total sample, 34% reported at least one incident prior to a ge 18. Ethnic differences were found with respect to prevalence, location o f abuse, and number of incidents of rape. While comparisons made with the 1 984 dataset revealed no significant difference in prevalence rates over the 10 year period, changes in circumstances were noted. Conclusions: Although the prevalence of child sexual abuse in Los Angeles C ounty remained fairly stable, several circumstances of abuse underwent chan ge. These characteristics are discussed in relation to how sexual abuse amo ng ethnically diverse samples in Los Angeles County has changed over a deca de and how these differences can help better tailor prevention messages to different communities. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd.