Making a unique contribution of placing the current sexual exploitation of children and adolescents firmly in its historical context, this book looks at the family's and society's roles in child and adolescent sex abuse. Unlike most previous studies, this study allows a range of responses from negative to positive and avoids the methodological problems inherent in many other studies. Most studies combine the age groups of children and adolescents, whereas this study separates these different age groups and compares the nature and outcome of sexual experiences of children with those of adolescents. Utilizing sophisticated analytical measures, the author's findings repudiate many commonly held assumptions and serve to calm current hysteria regarding sexual abuse of minors. Written to disseminate findings that could be helpful in realistically confronting the phenomenon of human sexuality, the results presented in this book dispel many current myths about early sexuality, including ethnic differences. The author wanted to separate scientific inquiry from the perpetration of pervading mores or social norms, and identify the real menaces to healthy adult functioning.

Making a unique contribution of placing the current sexual exploitation of children and adolescents firmly in its historical context, this book looks at the family's and society's roles in child and adolescent sex abuse. Unlike most previous studies, this study allows a range of responses from negative to positive and avoids the methodological problems inherent in many other studies. Most studies combine the age groups of children and adolescents, whereas this study separates these different age groups and compares the nature and outcome of sexual experiences of children with those of adolescents. Utilizing sophisticated analytical measures, the author's findings repudiate many commonly held assumptions and serve to calm current hysteria regarding sexual abuse of minors. Written to disseminate findings that could be helpful in realistically confronting the phenomenon of human sexuality, the results presented in this book dispel many current myths about early sexuality, including ethnic differences. The author wanted to separate scientific inquiry from the perpetration of pervading mores or social norms, and identify the real menaces to healthy adult functioning.

Sexual abuse of children and adolescents is a gross violation of their rights and a global public health problem. It adversely affects the health of children and adolescents. Health care providers are in a unique position to provide an empathetic response to children and adolescents who have been sexually abused. Such a response can go a long way in helping survivors recover from the trauma of sexual abuse. WHO has published new clinical guidelines Responding to Children and Adolescents Who Have Been Sexually Abused aimed at helping front-line health workers, primarily from low resource settings, in providing evidence-based, quality, trauma-informed care to survivors. The guidelines emphasize the importance of promoting safety, offering choices and respecting the wishes and autonomy of children and adolescents. They cover recommendations for post-rape care and mental health; and approaches to minimizing distress in the process of taking medical history, conducting examination and documenting findings.

Each year, child protective services receive reports of child abuse and neglect involving six million children, and many more go unreported. The long-term human and fiscal consequences of child abuse and neglect are not relegated to the victims themselves -- they also impact their families, future relationships, and society. In 1993, the National Research Council (NRC) issued the report, Under-standing Child Abuse and Neglect, which provided an overview of the research on child abuse and neglect. New Directions in Child Abuse and Neglect Research updates the 1993 report and provides new recommendations to respond to this public health challenge. According to this report, while there has been great progress in child abuse and neglect research, a coordinated, national research infrastructure with high-level federal support needs to be established and implemented immediately. New Directions in Child Abuse and Neglect Research recommends an actionable framework to guide and support future child abuse and neglect research. This report calls for a comprehensive, multidisciplinary approach to child abuse and neglect research that examines factors related to both children and adults across physical, mental, and behavioral health domains--including those in child welfare, economic support, criminal justice, education, and health care systems--and assesses the needs of a variety of subpopulations. It should also clarify the causal pathways related to child abuse and neglect and, more importantly, assess efforts to interrupt these pathways. New Directions in Child Abuse and Neglect Research identifies four areas to look to in developing a coordinated research enterprise: a national strategic plan, a national surveillance system, a new generation of researchers, and changes in the federal and state programmatic and policy response.

David Finkelhor presents a comprehensive vision to encompass the prevention, treatment and study of juvenile victims, unifying conventional subdivisions like child molestation, child abuse, bullying and exposure to community violence.

Approached with either "indifference" or "panic" in our culture, discussion of childhood sexuality remains submerged within political and moral debates that have historically impeded its understanding. In contrast, Sexual Development in Childhood brings together respected researchers and clinicians to assess the current state of knowledge about childhood sexuality. The result is a comprehensive presentation of the latest research that is rational, balanced, and thorough. The wide-ranging essays in Sexual Development in Childhood seek collectively to answer many of the most vital questions in the field of childhood development. What is childhood sexuality, and why should it be studied? How should it be measured, and what research methods are most useful? What are the current empirical results of research, and in what direction do these studies intend to go in the future? The essays offered in answer to these questions propose to help us understand both the normal range of sexual development in children and the consequences of abusive sexual experiences—objectives that should make this volume an essential resource for teachers, advocates, and social policy professionals as well as for researchers and clinicians.

This article reviews studies that have tried to confirm empirically the effects of child sexual abuse cited in the clinical literature. In regard to initial effects empirical studies have indicated reactions of fear, anxiety, depression, anger and hostility, aggression and sexually inappropriate behaviour. Frequently reported long-term effects include depression and self-destructive behaviour, anxiety, feelings of isolation and stigma, poor self-esteem, difficulty in trusting others, a tendency toward revictimization, substance abuse and sexual maladjustment. The controversy over the impact of child sexual abuse is discussed and recommendations for future research efforts are suggested.