Prevalence of Childhood Sexual Abuse

The prevalence of child sexual abuse has been the focus of researchers for decades. The numbers have been fairly consistent over time, considering the differences in methodologies used and the specific definition of sexual abuse. Studies in the United States report:

Year	Researcher	Percent of Females Abused	Percent of Males Abused
1990	Finkelhor	27 percent	16 percent
1997	Bolen, et al.	20 percent	7 percent
1997	Gorey and Leslie	17 percent	8 percent
2003	Briere and Elliott	32 percent	14 percent
2004	Simpson, et al.	27 percent	20 percent
2005	Dube, et al.	25 percent	16 percent
2007	Albanese	20 percent	10 percent
2014	Finkelhor	26.6 percent	5.1 percent

The following international studies fall in line with the prevalence found in the United States.
 

Year	Researcher	Percent of Females Abused	Percent of Males Abused
2009	Perede, et al.	19.7 percent	7.9 percent
2011	Stoltenborgh, et al.	18 percent	7.6 percent
2013	Barth	15 percent	8 percent

 

The bottom line is that child sexual abuse is quite prevalent.

1 in 4 Girls and 1 in 6 Boys are Sexually Abused Before Their 18th Birthday

The most commonly used statistic is 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys are sexually abused before the age of 18.^{9, 10} That is 20 percent of our children. To put that in perspective, the Center for Disease Control estimates that 5–20 percent of the US population will get the flu each season.11 So this next flu season, when you hear “we can’t make it, my husband has the flu” or “my son was throwing up all night” or “I really don’t feel well, I think I’m coming down with the flu,” imagine that they are all child sexual abuse survivors. Imagine instead that these survivors were saying “my mother was inappropriate with me my whole life” or “my uncle raped me” or “my priest molested me.” Then realize that they likely represent a fraction of the people in your life who have been abused.