Sexual assault among teenagers has been shown to lead to an increase in mental health problems, social exclusion and worse school performance. Child sexual abuse victims report almost four times as many incidences of self-inflicted harm. Teenage pregnancy and risky sexual behaviors may appear in adolescence. Victims may withdraw from school and social activities and exhibit various learning and behavioural problems including cruelty to animals, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), conduct disorder, and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD). While children may exhibit regressive behaviours such as thumb sucking or bedwetting, the strongest indicator of sexual abuse is sexual acting out and inappropriate sexual knowledge and interest. Indicators and effects include depression, anxiety, eating disorders, poor self-esteem, somatization, sleep disturbances, and dissociative and anxiety disorders including post-traumatic stress disorder. The American Psychological Association states that "children cannot consent to sexual activity with adults", and condemns any such action by an adult: "An adult who engages in sexual activity with a child is performing a criminal and immoral act which never can be considered normal or socially acceptable behavior." Ĭhild sexual abuse can result in both short-term and long-term harm, including psychopathology in later life. Under the law, child sexual abuse is often used as an umbrella term describing criminal and civil offenses in which an adult engages in sexual activity with a minor or exploits a minor for the purpose of sexual gratification. The word pedophile is commonly applied indiscriminately to anyone who sexually abuses a child, but child sexual offenders are not pedophiles unless they have a strong sexual interest in prepubescent children. Most child sexual abuse is committed by men studies on female child molesters show that women commit 14% to 40% of offenses reported against boys and 6% of offenses reported against girls. Most sexual abuse offenders are acquainted with their victims approximately 30% are relatives of the child, most often brothers, fathers, uncles, or cousins around 60% are other acquaintances, such as "friends" of the family, babysitters, or neighbors strangers are the offenders in approximately 10% of child sexual abuse cases. One study found an estimated 19.7% of females and 7.9% of males experienced some form of child sexual abuse prior to the age of 18. Sexual abuse by a family member is a form of incest and can result in more serious and long-term psychological trauma, especially in the case of parental incest. The effects of child sexual abuse can include depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, complex post-traumatic stress disorder, propensity to further victimization in adulthood, and physical injury to the child, among other problems. Child marriage is one of the main forms of child sexual abuse UNICEF has stated that child marriage "represents perhaps the most prevalent form of sexual abuse and exploitation of girls". Ĭhild sexual abuse can occur in a variety of settings, including home, school, or work (in places where child labor is common). Forms of child sexual abuse include engaging in sexual activities with a child (whether by asking or pressuring, or by other means), indecent exposure, child grooming, and child sexual exploitation, such as using a child to produce child pornography.
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