child sexual abuse from friends

child sexual abuse from friends The focus of child sexual abuse is seldom on abuse by friends, perhaps because of
the issue of how to separate normal sexual play among peers and abuse. Even though
abuse by friends was one of the less prevalent types of abuse in Russell’s (1983) study,
more than 4% of all respondents in her sample reported a history of this type of
abuse. Trend analyses suggested, however, that this abuse was increasing in prevalence
at the time of her survey in 1978. While the victim and perpetrator were usually
within three years of age of each other, incidents in this category were often as severe
as, or more severe than, other types of abuse. Indeed, 61 % involved penetration, 11 %
involved the use of a weapon, and 75% involved force or threat. Abuse by friends
was categorized by ages of the victims and perpetrators, as follows.
Victims younger than 14 and perpetrators close in age: Of the incidents of
abuse that occurred among victims who were less than 14 years of age and perpetrators
who were within three years of the victim’s age, a few occurred within the context of
some type of contact play situation between the friends (e.g., using wrestling as a
method of fondling the victim). More often, however, boys took advantage of more
innocuous play situations to fondle their victims.
Wide age disparity: Another prevalent category was abuse by fiiends more than
three years older than the victim. Most of these victims were under the age of 14, and
three-fourths of all abuse resulted in penetration or its attempt.
Victims aged 14 or older and perpetrators close in age: In a few cases of abuse,
the victims were older than the age of 14, and the perpetrators were within three years
of age of the victim. All cases included rape or its attempt, and all were particularly severe.