Review of 125 children 6 years of age and under who were sexually abused

Abstract

The authors present a chart review of 125 children, 6 years of age and under, who presented between early 1981 and mid 1983 to an acute care hospital because of sexual abuse. They represented one-third of the cases of alleged sexual abuse between infancy and 18 years of age referred to the hospital's multidisciplinary sexual abuse team. The ratio of females to males was 3.3:1. Sixty percent of the children were victims of intrafamilial abuse. Of the preschoolers, 72.5% were victims of intrafamilial abuse. At school age there was a reversal with 73% of 6 year olds being abused by extrafamilial offenders. The duration of the abusive relationship was greater in intrafamilial abuse. Purposeful disclosures were more frequent overall but were significantly less frequent when the perpetrator was intrafamilial or when the child was a preschooler. Two-thirds of the children had physical and/or behavioral symptoms. Parents of children who had been the victims of intrafamilial abuse were more likely to be separated or divorced. The difficulties in assessing young victims of alleged sexual abuse and the implications of the findings in this review are discussed.