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Abstract
Studies conducted internationally confirm that child sexual abuse is a much more widespread
problem than previously thought, with even the lowest prevalence rates including a
large number of victims that need to be taken into account.
To carry out a meta-analysis of the prevalence of child sexual abuse in order to establish
an overall international figure.
Studies were retrieved from various electronic databases. The measure of interest
was the prevalence of abuse reported in each article, these values being combined
via a random effects model. A detailed analysis was conducted of the effects of various
moderator variables.
Sixty-five articles covering 22 countries were included. The analysis showed that
7.9% of men (7.4% without outliers) and 19.7% of women (19.2% without outliers) had
suffered some form of sexual abuse prior to the age of eighteen.
The results of the present meta-analysis indicate that child sexual abuse is a serious
problem in the countries analysed.