A global perspective on child sexual abuse: meta-analysis of prevalence around the world.
Level 1 - systematic review of randomized trials
Meta-analysis of observational prevalence studies (graded by design analogy).
PubMed 21511741 · doi:10.1177/1077559511403920
What was done
Authors conducted a meta-analysis synthesizing childhood sexual abuse (CSA) prevalence rates from 217 publications (1980–2008), comprising 331 independent samples and 9,911,748 total participants across different regions, sexes, and reporting methods (self-report vs. informant studies).
What was found
Overall estimated CSA prevalence was 127/1,000 in self-report studies versus 4/1,000 in informant studies. Self-reported CSA was higher among females (180/1,000) than males (76/1,000). Asia had the lowest self-reported rates for both girls (113/1,000) and boys (41/1,000), while the highest rates were found in Australia for girls (215/1,000) and Africa for boys (193/1,000).
Why it matters
It establishes global benchmark prevalence figures for CSA across regions and highlights a massive disparity between self-reported experiences and official or informant-identified cases.
Limits
The abstract notes that methodological issues drastically influence self-reported prevalence rates. Specific definitions of abuse, cultural disclosure barriers, and sampling variation across the included studies spanning nearly 30 years were not detailed in the abstract.
Cited by
- context Approximately one in four people have experienced sexual abuse.