Sexually Abused Girls & Delinquency

Are girls at higher risk for juvenile delinquency as a function of being sexually abused as children? This study examined this question using a sample of adolescent girls 13 to 17 years of age, all of whom had been placed on probation by the Wayne County Juvenile Court. Specifically, the conducted study examined whether the occurrence of sexual abuse in the sample was greater than what might be expected on the basis of chance alone.

In addition, the occurrence of sexual abuse was examined for association with several subject demographic variables (grade level, ethnicity, living situation, highest grade received by the primary caregiver, mother's age at daughter's birth, whether the mother was herself sexually abused, and income source) in order to determine whether sexual abuse occurred more frequently as a result of differences in demographic background.

Also, for those subjects who were sexually abused, descriptive analyses were conducted to compile a profile of the nature of the abuse experienced by these girls. The sexual abuse characteristics that were examined in these analyses were:

(a) how often the abuse occurred (daily, weekly, 1-3 times a month, less than monthly); (b) who committed the abuse; (c) the length of time the abuse lasted; (d) whether the abuse was reported; (e) the length of time that went by before the abuse was reported; (f) whether counseling was received; and (f) whether delinquent activities started prior to

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yses consisting of the compilation of frequencies, percentages and/or means, medians and standard deviations; or (b) Chi Square analyses examining for differences in the proportions of subjects observed at various levels of the sexual abuse and demographic variables studied. The conducted Chi Square analyses used the conventional .05 significance level. Validity and Reliability ... Ethics Review ... RESULTS Occurrence of Sexual Abuse The first analysis conducted was a one-way Chi Square analysis performed to examine whether the occurrence of sexual abuse in the sample of adolescent delinquents serving as subjects in the study was greater than what might be expected on the basis of chance alone. The contingency table observed for this analysis is presented in Table 1. As can be seen from examination of the table, the observed value of Chi Square was significant (Chi Square = 11.52; df = 1; p<.01). Examining the observed frequencies, it can be noted that the significant finding indicates that sexual abuse occurred significantly more often among delinquent girls than what would be expected on the basis of chance alone. Demographic Analyses Preliminaries A series of Chi Square analyses were conducted to examine whether t

Category: Psychology - S