title: Sexual abuse among female high school students in Istanbul, Turkey.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The objective of the study was to determine the prevalence of sexual abuse in female adolescents in Istanbul, Turkey from data collected as part of a school-based population study on health and health behaviors.
  
  
  METHODS
  A stratified cluster sampling procedure was used for this cross-sectional study. The study sample included 1,955 randomly selected 9th through 11th grade female students attending 26 randomly-selected high schools in Istanbul. A self-report questionnaire was administered anonymously in the classroom. Information on sexual abuse history was collected through the questions investigating "touching" and "intercourse."
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 1,955 female students, 1,871 (95.7%) provided answers to the questions addressing unwanted sexual experience. Of these, 250 (13.4%) reported sexually abusive experiences. Two hundred and thirteen (11.3%) students reported that someone touched their private parts in a way they did not like; 91 (4.9%) reported they were forced to have sexual intercourse; 54 (3.0%) reported both types of sexual abuse. Incest was reported by 1.8% of the subjects. Ninety-three percent of the perpetrators were reported to be male.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This is the first reported school-based study to determine the prevalence of sexual abuse in Turkey. The results show that at least 13.4% of female high school students disclosed having experienced sexual abuse during childhood.
authors.affiliation: Istanbul University, Cerrahpasa Medical Faculty, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Adolescent Medicine, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Mujgan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Alikasifoglu
authors.forename: Ethem
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Erginoz
authors.forename: Oya
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Ercan
authors.forename: Deniz
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Albayrak-Kaymak
authors.forename: Omer
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Uysal
authors.forename: Ozdemir
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Ilter
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002391:Catchment Area, Health; D002650:Child Abuse, Sexual / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015995:Prevalence; D012494:Sampling Studies; D012574:Schools; D013334:Students / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology