Prevalence of childhood sexual abuse among Mexican adolescents.
BACKGROUND
To determine the characteristics and prevalence of previous child sexual abuse among a group of Mexican junior high school students.


METHODS
A total of 1067 adolescents of both genders were selected to fill out a survey about child sexual abuse.


RESULTS
The prevalence of child sexual abuse was 18.7% (n = 200). It was more frequent in girls (58%) than in boys (42%). Sexual abuse involved physical contact in 75% of those cases reporting abuse. The aggressors were neighbours (50.3%), relatives (36.8%) and strangers (13.9%). Abuse was committed through deception in 90% of the cases and involved physical mistreatment in 10% of the cases. Of the victims, 14.4% had spoken about the problem and 3.7% had taken legal action. And 9.6% of those surveyed stated that they required psychological counselling.


CONCLUSIONS
In the population studied, the prevalency of child sexual abuse was greater than that reported in Mexico City (4.3-8.4%), although it was similar to that found in the Spanish child population (15-23%). The risk of sexual abuse is greater for girls and the principal aggressors are male neighbours, family friends and relatives; the abuse is committed in the home of the aggressor or the victim and very few cases are reported to the authorities.
Pineda-Lucatero
A G
AG
Unidad de Investigación Epidemiológica Clínica, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Colima, México.
Trujillo-Hernández
B
B
Millán-Guerrero
R O
RO
Vásquez
C
C
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002650:Child Abuse, Sexual / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019548:Crime Victims / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005239:Fear / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008800:Mexico / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D012931:Social Environment; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014342:Truth Disclosure