Published In
Child Maltreatment
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
3-13-2026
Subjects
Child sexual abuse (CSA) victimization -- United States
Abstract
We investigated the prevalence of contact child sexual abuse (CSA) victimization in the US by comparing perpetration types in two adult cohorts. Participants included a nationally representative sample of adults aged 18–22 (n = 3,174) and 32–36 (n = 3,237). We used weighted proportions to obtain prevalences, Rao-Scott χ2 tests to assess for differences between cohorts. Analyses were also stratified by gender. The overall prevalence was 21.7% and similar between the two cohorts; 9.7% reported abuse by adults and 16.9% by youth under age 18. Most said that offenses were perpetrated by people known to them. CSA perpetration by youth was greater in the younger cohort than in the older cohort (18.8% vs. 15.1%). Among women, intrafamilial abuse by adults and youth declined from the older to the younger cohort. This study highlights emerging trends in CSA victimization by age of people who offend, by relationship to survivors, and by survivor gender.
Rights
Copyright (c) 2026 The Authors Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
DOI
10.1177/10775595261434038
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/44546
Citation Details
Assini-Meytin, L. C., Fix, R. L., Sun, Y., Finkelhor, D., Letourneau, E. J., Kaufman, K. L., & Mathews, B. (2026). Prevalence of Contact Child Sexual Abuse Victimization in the US: Perpetration Types and Cohort Differences. Child Maltreatment.