RISK-FACTORS FOR DEVELOPMENT OF SEXUALLY ABUSIVE BEHAVIOR IN SEXUALLYVICTIMISED ADOLESCENT BOYS - CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Objective: To identify factors that may increase the risk of a sexuall y victimised adolescent boy developing sexually abusive behaviour. Des ign: Sexually victimised boys who had sexually abused other children w ere compared with sexually victimised boys who had not done so. Settin g: Social services departments in south east England were incited to r efer sexually abused and sexually abusing boys to a London postgraduat e teaching hospital. Subjects: 25 adolescent boys aged between 11 year s and 15 years and 11 months.Main outcome measures: Adjusted odds rati os estimated from unconditional logistic regression. Results: Unadjust ed odds rations for witnessing (8.1) as well as experiencing (18.0) in trafamilial violence and discontinuity of care (7.2) discriminated boy s who had sexually abused from others who were solely victims of sexua l abuse. Only the adjusted odds ratios for witnessing intrafamilial vi olence (39.7) discriminated the two groups. Conclusions: The risk of a dolescent boys who have been victims of sexual abuse engaging in sexua lly abusive behaviour towards other children is increased by life circ umstances which may be unrelated directly to the original abusive expe rience, in particular exposure to a climate of intrafamilial violence. Our findings have implications for the management of boys found to ha ve been sexually abused and raise important questions about the possib ility of secondary prevention of subsequent abusive behaviour in those at greatest risk.