Epidemiology of sexual abuse of children: Old problems, new directions

ALTHOUGH EPIDEMIOLOGY IS sometimes narrowly viewed as the enumeration of a disease in the population, epidemiology is, in fact, a broader science and has been defined as "the study of factors that determine the occurrence and distribution of disease in a population" (Jekel, Elmore, & Katz, 1996). During the last 2 decades, epidemiological studies have made important contributions to understanding the problem of sexual abuse of children. This article describes some of the major findings from these epidemiological studies, raises important questions that need to be addressed by future epidemiological studies, and reviews some of the barriers to conducting these studies, The major findings are organized into the following five categories: prevalence, reported incidence, data from children, consequences of sexual abuse, and risk factors.