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