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. 2025 Jan-Mar;25(1):100535.
doi: 10.1016/j.ijchp.2024.100535. Epub 2025 Jan 10.

A short screen for lifetime sexual victimization experiences: Expanding research on the Sexual Abuse History Questionnaire (SAHQ) across cultures, genders, and sexual identities

Léna Nagy  1   2 , Sophie Bergeron  3   4 , Mónika Koós  5 , Ateret Gewirtz-Meydan  6 , Marie-Pier Vaillancourt-Morel  4   7 , Shane W Kraus  8 , Marc N Potenza  9   10   11 , Zsolt Demetrovics  2   12   13 , Félix Dupuis-Fortier  14 , Beáta Bőthe  3   4 ; International Sex Survey Consortium
Affiliations

A short screen for lifetime sexual victimization experiences: Expanding research on the Sexual Abuse History Questionnaire (SAHQ) across cultures, genders, and sexual identities

Léna Nagy et al. Int J Clin Health Psychol. 2025 Jan-Mar.

Abstract

The Sexual Abuse History Questionnaire (SAHQ), a widely used screening tool for childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and adolescent/adult sexual assault (AASA) experiences, has limited examination of its psychometric properties in diverse populations. Our study assessed the SAHQ's psychometric properties (i.e., structural validity and measurement invariance across demographic groups, know-group validity, and internal consistency) and estimated the frequencies of various types of sexual victimization across 42 countries and in diverse gender-, trans-status-, and sexual-identity-based groups that were previously missing from measurement-focused studies. We used a large, non-representative sample (N = 81,465; 57 % women, 3.4 % gender-diverse individuals, Mage =32.34 years, SD=12.48) from the International Sex Survey, a 42-country cross-sectional, multi-language, online survey. The SAHQ demonstrated excellent structural validity in all country-, gender-, sexual-identity-, and trans-status-based groups, as well as acceptable reliability and known-group validity. Occurrence estimates for six CSA and AASA types were reported across sociodemographic groups, corroborating previous evidence that women and gender- and sexual-minority individuals are at greater risk of CSA and AASA. Pansexual and queer individuals emerged as a particularly vulnerable group. Associations between different types of CSA and AASA revealed that participants who experienced any form of CSA were at least twice as likely to experience AASA. The findings have significant implications for policy and interventions, especially for marginalized groups.

Keywords: Cross-cultural; International sex survey (iss); Sexual abuse; Sexual abuse history questionnaire; Sexual and gender minorities.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: SWK discloses that he has received funding from the International Center for Responsible Gaming, MGM Resorts International, Center for the Application of Substance Abuse Technologies, Taylor Francis, Springer Nature, The Nevada Problem Gambling Project, Sports Betting Alliance, and Kindbridge Research Institute. MNP discloses that he has consulted for and advised Game Day Data, Addiction Policy Forum, AXA, Idorsia, Baria-Tek, and Opiant Therapeutics; been involved in a patent application involving Novartis and Yale; received research support from the Mohegan Sun Casino, Children and Screens and the Connecticut Council on Problem Gambling; consulted for or advised legal and gambling entities on issues related to impulse control, internet use and addictive behaviors; provided clinical care related to impulse-control and addictive behaviors; performed grant reviews; edited journals/journal sections; given academic lectures in grand rounds, CME events and other clinical/scientific venues; and generated books or chapters for publishers of mental health texts. The University of Gibraltar receives funding from the Gibraltar Gambling Care Foundation, an independent, not-for-profit charity. J. Burkauskas works as a consultant at Cronos. ELTE Eötvös Loránd University receives funding from Szerencsejáték Ltd. (the gambling operator of the Hungarian government) to maintain a telephone helpline service for problematic gambling. However, these funding sources are not related to this study, and the funding institutions had no role in the study design or the collection, analysis, and interpretation of the data, the writing of the manuscript, or the decision to submit the paper for publication. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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