Identifying teenage sexual abuse victims by questions on their daily lives

• Published in: Child abuse & neglect Vol. 85; pp. 127 - 136
• Main Authors: Mignot, Stéphanie, Fritel, Xavier, Loreal, Marie, Binder, Philippe, Roux, Marie-Thérèse, Gicquel, Ludovic, Ingrand, Pierre
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01-11-2018; Elsevier Science Ltd; Elsevier B.V
• Subjects: Abused children; Addictions; Adolescents; Child Abuse; Child abuse & neglect; Child sexual abuse; Emotional abuse; Everyday life; Family physicians; Fear & phobias; General practitioner; Health behavior; Health problems; Human health and pathology; Life events; Life Sciences; Marijuana; Peer relationships; Primary care; Psychiatrics and mental health; Public health; Quality of care; Questionnaires; Risk behavior; Screening; Self Concept; Self Destructive Behavior; Self esteem; Self injury; Sex crimes; Teenagers; Victims; Victims of crime; Violence; Screening; Child abuse; Teenagers; General practitioner
• DOI: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2018.07.027
• EISSN: 1873-7757; 0145-2134
• ISSN: 0145-2134

Child sexual abuse (CSA) is an international public health problem. While general practitioners are perhaps ideally positioned to detect CSA, a lack of simple tools and their discomfort in bringing up such a sensitive subject reduce the likelihood of its being brought up and flagged in primary care. However, it may be possible to identify victims of CSA by observing its consequences on student well-being, overall well-being and risk behavior. This study investigate the predictive value of daily life events possibly associated with CSA: relationship difficulties with peers and teachers, autolytic attempts, self-mutilation, low self-esteem, addiction, poor body image, physical and psychological violence, low quality of sleep. We carried out a crosssectional survey involving a representative sample of 1719 15 year-old adolescents enrolled in 192 randomly drawn schools from two French regions. In their classrooms, they filled out a version of the Health Behavior in School-Aged Children international (HBSC) self-questionnaire. Compared to their coevals, these youth were more likely to regularly consume cannabis, OR 4.40 [1.85; 10.48] and to express fear of violence, OR 2.05 [1.28; 3,28]. They were less likely to feel satisfied about their weight, OR 2.24 [1.13; 4.40] and more likely to feel unaccepted by others, OR 1.65 [1.03; 2.65]. The C-index (concordance statistic) taking into account gender, regular cannabis consumption, fear of violence, not having the right weight and not being accepted by others, was 0.79. The C-index also including self mutilation and autolytic attempts was 0.83. Indirect thematic could likewise facilitate detection and identification of CSA.