Elsevier

Child Abuse & Neglect

Volume 28, Issue 3, March 2004, Pages 241-251
Child Abuse & Neglect

Sexual abuse of deaf children. A retrospective analysis of the prevalence and characteristics of childhood sexual abuse among deaf adults in Norway

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2003.09.017Get rights and content

Abstract

Objective: North American studies conclude that deaf children may have a 2–3 times greater risk of sexual abuse than hearing children. No comparative studies are available in the Nordic countries. The present study was initiated to estimate the prevalence of childhood sexual abuse among deaf children in Norway, describe the nature of the abuse, and to examine risk factors.

Method: A self-administered questionnaire was sent in 1999 to all 1150 adult deaf members of the Norwegian Deaf Register. The Deaf Register includes all deaf Norwegians. The questionnaire, which was also available videotaped in sign language, was an adapted version of a questionnaire used in a Norwegian survey among the general adult population in 1993. The results from this earlier study were used as a comparison group.

Results: Deaf females aged 18–65 who lost their hearing before the age of 9 (N=177) reported sexual abuse with contact before the age of 18 years more than twice as often as hearing females, and deaf males more than three times as often as hearing males. The abuse of the deaf children was also more serious. Very few cases were reported to parents, teachers, or authorities.

Conclusions: Deaf children are at greater risk of sexual abuse than hearing children. The special schools for the deaf represent an extra risk of abuse, regardless of whether the deaf pupils live at home or in boarding schools.

Résumé

Objectif: Les études faites en Amérique du Nord concluent que les enfants sourds courent deux à trois fois plus de risques d’être abusés sexuellement que les enfants non-sourds. Il n’y a pas d’étude comparative faite dans les pays nordiques. Cette étude a été mise en oeuvre en Norvège pour estimer la prévalence des abus sexuels sur des enfants sourds, pour en décrire la nature et les facteurs de risque.

Méthode: On a adressé un questionnaire auto-administré en 1999 à l’ensemble des 1150 adultes inscrits au registre norvégien des sourds. Celui-ci les inclut en totalité. Le questionnaire qui est disponible également en version video en langage des signes est une version adaptée d’un questionnaire utilisé pour une enquête effectuée en 1993 auprès de la population générale adulte. On a utilisé comme groupe de comparaison les résultats de cette première étude.

Résultats: Les femmes âgées de 18 à 65 ans qui avaient perdu l’audition avant l’âge de 9 ans (N=9) ont mentionné un abus sexuel avec contact avant l’âge de 18 ans dans plus de deux fois plus de cas que les femmes non sourdes, et les hommes sourds dans plus de trois fois plus de cas. Les abus sur des enfants sourds étaient également plus graves. Très peu de cas avaient été dévoilés auprès de parents, professeurs ou des autorités.

Conclusion: Les enfants sourds courent plus de risques d’être abusés sexuellement que les autres enfants. Les écoles spéciales pour sourds présentent un risque supplémentaire d’abus indépendamment du fait que les enfants vivent à la maison ou en internat.

Resumen

Objetivo: Estudios norteamericanos concluyen que los niños sordos pueden tener de 2 a 3 veces mayor riesgo de ser abusados sexualmente que los niños con buena audición. En los paı́ses nórdicos no hay estudios comparativos disponibles. El presente estudio se inició para estimar la prevalencia del abuso sexual en niños sordos en Noruega, describir la naturaleza del abuso y examinar los factores de riesgo.

Método: En 1999 se envió un cuestionario auto-administrado a todos los 1150 adultos sordos miembros del Registro Noruego para Sordos. El Registro para Sordos incluye a todos los noruegos sordos. El cuestionario, que también estuvo disponible en video con lenguaje por señas, era una versión adaptada de un cuestionario utilizado en una encuesta noruega aplicada a la población en general en 1993. Los resultados de este estudio anterior fueron utilizados como grupo de comparación.

Resultados: Las mujeres sordas de 18 a 65 años que perdieron la audición antes de los 9 años (N=9) reportaron abuso sexual con contacto fı́sico antes de los 18 años de edad, más del doble de las veces que las mujeres que oyen, y los hombres sordos más del triple de las veces que los hombres que oyen. El abuso a los niños sordos también fue más severo. Muy pocos casos fueron reportados a los padres, maestros, o a las autoridades.

Conclusiones: Los niños sordos están en mayor riesgo de abuso sexual que los niños que oyen. Las escuelas especiales para los sordos representan un riesgo extra de abuso, sin importar el que los alumnos sordos vivan en su hogar o en internados.

Introduction

Childhood sexual abuse is defined as the sexual exploitation of a child under legal age who is developmentally incapable of understanding or resisting the sexual contact. This article will focus primarily on the results of a Norwegian study dealing with childhood sexual abuse as reported by 302 adults who lost their hearing before the age of 9 years (Kvam, 2001).

A potential abuser often chooses as a victim a child with little self-esteem, few good peer relations, and small possibilities to tell about the abusive event (Conte, Wolf, & Smith, 1989). Children with disabilities often fall into this category (Appleton, Minchom, Ellis, Böll, & Jones, 1994; Armstrong, Rosenbaum, Ellis, Böll, & Jones, 1992). This is further supported by different North American studies, which conclude that there is an increased risk of sexual abuse for disabled children (Sedlack & Broadhurst, 1996).

The present study was initiated to explore and describe the situation for deaf people in Norway. The main purpose was to examine the prevalence of sexual abuse among deaf children and compare those results with the prevalence in the general population. Furthermore the study aimed to determine characteristics of the victims, the abusers and the nature of the abuse. The results should provide information regarding the need for therapy in sign language, and information regarding possible future preventive strategies.

Gorey and Leslie (1997) conducted an integrative review synthesizing the findings of 16 cross-sectional surveys in the general North American population regarding the prevalence of child sexual abuse. All the samples were non-clinical adults. After adjustment for response rates and definitions (excluding non-contact abuse), they estimated the prevalence to be 12–17% for females and 5–8% for males. Within the group exposed to abuse, Gorey and Leslie (1997) found a gender distribution of 68% females and 32% males. Finkelhor (1994) reviewed studies from 19 different countries and found the same gender distribution tendency. He concluded that girls were abused 1.5–3 times more often than were boys. Two Norwegian studies reported similar prevalence findings among children under 18 years of age: 14% and 9% (Sætre, Holter, & Jebsen, 1986) and 19.2% and 9.6% (Tambs, 1994) for girls and boys, respectively.

Results from studies among disabled children differ from studies among children in the general population both in terms of magnitude of the problem and in the gender distribution of the victims.

Most studies conclude that the risk of sexual abuse is doubled when a child is disabled (Chamberlain, Rauh, Passer, McGrath, & Burket, 1984; Crosse, 1998). Sobsey and Mansell (1994) collected reports from 220 respondents (either a victim with disability or the victim’s advocate). They found that the disabled respondents were more often than other children, abused by an offender from the family or the circle of acquaintances. In addition children with disabilities were subject to the added risk constituted by caregivers that provided special care to the disabled.

Deaf children seem to be especially vulnerable. Sullivan, Vernon, and Scanlan (1987) refer to three studies concerning sexual abuse of deaf children. They conclude that deaf children are exposed to a 2–3 times greater risk of sexual abuse than are hearing children.

Sobsey, Randall, and Parrila (1997) reviewed studies of sexual abuse among disabled and non-disabled children in relation to gender distribution. They found that boys represented a significantly larger proportion of the disabled victims than would be expected from their respective proportion of abused children without disabilities. Kvam (2000) found the same tendency among 1293 children visiting Norwegian pediatric hospitals with the suspicion of sexual abuse. The non-disabled group had a gender distribution of 78% and 22% and the disabled group 65% and 35% for girls and boys, respectively. Among deaf children, Sullivan et al. (1987) found that boys and girls were equally represented among the victims of sexual abuse.

The results from North America studies cannot, however, be directly transferred to the Norwegian deaf population due to differences in certain socio-cultural factors and differences in the school settings. Furthermore, some of these studies have methodological drawbacks (small sample sizes, lack of a control group) that make cross-cultural comparisons difficult (Sullivan et al., 1987). It was thus important to describe the situation for the deaf people in Norway.

Section snippets

Subjects

The Deaf Register in Norway contains the name, address, and date of birth of all deaf people in Norway. The register includes 1150 deaf people, 18 years or older. The age and gender distribution of the members is spread rather evenly.

Even though a majority of the deaf people have settled in towns having a local church for the deaf, many live in small localities spread all over the country. This makes it both economically and practically difficult to interview a randomly selected population.

Prevalence of abuse in the deaf subjects

The subjects were requested to report unwanted sexual occurrences before the age of 18 years in accordance with 8 different types of abuse listed in the questionnaire. None reported abuse when they were 17–18 years, which means that the subjects were 16 years or younger when abused. All were deaf when the first incident took place.

Altogether 134 persons—45.8% of the deaf girls and 42.4% of the deaf boys—had been exposed to unwanted sexual experiences during childhood. Most of the victims

Discussion

This study found that adult deaf people in Norway reported more childhood sexual abuse than did the subjects in a Norwegian hearing comparison group. Deaf females experienced childhood sexual abuse with physical contact more than twice as often as hearing females (39.6% and 19.2%, respectively), and deaf males more than three times as often (32.8% and 9.6%). The difference in prevalence within the deaf and hearing group increased in accordance with the seriousness of the abusive event. While

Acknowledgements

Michell Loeb, SINTEF Unimed, Oslo; Kristian Tambs, Norwegian Institute of Public Health; The Foundation Health and Rehabilitation, Norway; Save the Children, Norway; Directorate for Health & Social Affairs, Norway; all deaf adults in Norway.

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