The epidemiology of child sexual abuse

The scale of child sexual abuse is the central concern in this chapter. There are two main types of studies which attempt to describe the scope of child sexual abuse. Firstly, there are incidence studies which seek to estimate the number of cases identified in a specific population during a given time period and in a given locality. Secondly, there are prevalence studies which attempt to estimate the proportion of a population that has been sexually abused in the course of their childhood. Incidence figures are usually expressed as a number of cases per 1000 children per annum in a designated geogaphical area. Prevalence figures, on the other hand, are expressed as a percentage of cases within a defined population reporting abuse.