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Abstract

Objective: For several decades, researchers have explored the hypothesis that children who have been sexually abused are more likely to exhibit sexually criminal behaviour later in life, known as the sexually abused sexual abuser hypothesis (SA/SA-hypothesis). This hypothesis can be stigmatising for victims of sexual violence, especially when causal connections are drawn. Therefore this dissertation examines this connection by focusing on the methodological robustness and findings of empirical studies from 1980 to 2019. The purpose is to critically evaluate the strength of the methodologies used in these studies and the magnitude of the reported effects to understand the validity of the SA/SA-hypothesis.

Methods: To achieve this, a systematic literature review of 122 empirical studies was conducted. Two studies from each decade were selected based on predefined criteria, including citation counts, focusing on empirical research directly addressing the link between child sexual abuse and later sexual offences. The selected studies were critically analysed to evaluate their research design, sampling characteristics, measurement tools, and statistical analyses.

Results: The analysis revealed that while early studies provided initial insights into the child sexual abuse offending link, many were limited by methodological shortcomings, such as non-probabilistic sampling, a lack of control-groups, relying on self-reported data, or cross-sectional designs, and inadequate reporting of statistical measures like effect sizes and confidence intervals. Over the decades, research has progressively incorporated more rigorous methodologies, including non-sexual offence control-groups, multivariate analyses, longitudinal designs, and larger, more representative samples. Despite these improvements, inconsistencies in definitions, sampling biases, and data reliability issues persisted.

Conclusions: The findings generally support the hypothesis that child sexual abuse is a significant risk factor for later sexual offending. However, the relationship is complex and influenced by multiple factors, including other forms of abuse, psychological problems, and family dynamics. Methodological limitations, such as inconsistent definitions and biases in self-reported data, continue to challenge the field. Future research should focus on longitudinal designs, non-criminal control groups, multivariate statistical techniques, and standardised data collection methods to enhance the reliability and validity of findings without further stigmatising child sexual abuse victims.

Course: Criminal Justice - MSc - C2681F

Date Deposited: 2024-11-21

URI/permalink: https://library.port.ac.uk/dissert/dis14561.html