About 10 percent of adults were sexually abused as a child

Study: 8.5 percent of young Germans were abused as a child

There is still too much silence about it: abuse of children destroys life. Surviving victims are usually traumatized for life. How many people are really affected is difficult to say, since only very few reveal themselves. According to a study, about 8.5 percent of today's young adults had abuse experiences as children. It is to be assumed, however, from an "immense" dark figure.

8.5 percent had to make abuse experiences
A few months ago, child and adolescent psychiatrists have come to the public and warned that depression in children is underestimated. As the experts pointed out, traumatic experiences, such as sexual abuse, are among the main risks of mental disorders. Unfortunately, the subject of abuse of children is still too often kept silent.

Since only very few victims reveal themselves, it is unclear how many people are really affected. An estimated 8.5 percent of young adults were abused as children, according to a study published today.

Abuse at the age of nine and a half years
This was the conclusion of the research project "MiKADO" at the University of Regensburg. "MiKADO" stands for "Abuse of Children: Aetiology, Darkfield, Victims". The researchers now published a summary of their findings. According to this, the victims experienced the first abuse on average at the age of 9.5 years. At 11.5 percent, women were much more likely to report sexual assault in childhood than men (5.1 percent). However, the dark field is "immense", as the scientists report.

With and without body contact
In their work, the researchers adhered to the legal definition of the term "child abuse", which sets apart above all on the age gap. The leader of the project, dr. Dipl. Psych. Janina Neutze, explains: "As sexual child abuse, a sexual experience under the age of 14 years with a at least five years older, at least 14-year-old person was counted." The psychologist further: "Sexual border violation, sexual experiences were before the 16. Birthday rated as unpleasant and stressful. "Verbal violence was excluded from their investigation. According to the researchers, there is a distinction between abuse with physical contact and without body contact, ie exhibitionism and self-gratification in front of children, or an invitation to children to touch themselves on the genitals.

Affected people are often silent out of shame
In most cases, the children and the victims conceal the abuse, mostly out of shame. Only about every third case was communicated to someone else. According to the study, just one percent of the cases are known to the investigating authorities or youth welfare offices. In total, about 28,000 adults and over 2,000 children and adolescents participated in the studies. In addition to the University of Regensburg, over the past three and a half years doctors and psychologists in Hamburg, Bonn, Dresden, Ulm and Finland as well as various victim protection associations have taken part in the comprehensive project.

Stressful Sexual Online Experiences
Cases were also investigated in connection with the Internet. In addition, six percent of the surveyed girls and two percent of the boys reported experiencing at least one onerous sexual online experience last year. In addition discussions over sexual topics, on-line sex in front of the camera, the receipt of pornographic illustrations and the sending of own sexual photos are counted. Few of the adolescents broke off online contact when a sexual issue arose or a sexual act was requested (14 percent). Almost a quarter even met with the online acquaintances. Two percent of them experienced these meetings as stressful and 2.5 percent reported sexual acts at the meetings. Compared to boys, younger and less educated girls had a higher risk for stressful online sexual experiences, especially with older men.

More susceptible to mental illness
It was found that affected children and adolescents, who were covered by the help system, showed significant symptoms of stress. Thus, 60 percent met the criteria of a mental disorder, especially disorders of social behavior, ADHD (attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder), post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. Many revealed, if at all, at the earliest after one year, and many did not seek therapeutic help. Already years ago, American scientists reported that brain damage from maltreatment in childhood is detectable and that could be the reason that victims are more susceptible to mental illness.

Better protection against sexual violence
Researchers in the "MiKADO" study also looked at how common sexual interest in children is in the population. According to reports, 4.4 percent of men reported sexual fantasies with children and 1.4 percent said they abused a child under the age of twelve. As it was said, the dark field of child molesters, however, was "big." According to the study, fewer than one in 1,000 men are likely to meet the pedophilia diagnostic criteria. The federal government financed the three-and-a-half-year project with around 2.5 million euros. According to researchers, the findings could also provide approaches to developing concrete measures to better protect children and adolescents from sexual violence. (Ad)