Abstract

ARROM SUHURT, Cristina Haydée; RUOTI, Monica; ORUE, Elisabeth  and  ARROM SUHURT, Carmen Marina. Sexual abuse and other types of violence in high school students from the department of Alto Parana. Mem. Inst. Investig. Cienc. Salud [online]. 2015, vol.13, n.3, pp.31-38. ISSN 1812-9528.  https://doi.org/10.18004/Mem.iics/1812-9528/2015.013(03)31-038.

Sexual abuse and other forms of violence affect health and psychosocial development of the victim with social, ethical and legal implications. The objective was to determine the frequency of sexual abuse and other forms of violence in students from high schools of Alto Parana. It is a descriptive, cross-sectional study with probabilistic three-staged sampling. The sample included 661 students from 56 schools. An anonymous, self-administered questionnaire that included indicators of the Conflict Tactics Scale of Strauss and Gelles was used as instrument. The 26.3% (174) experienced an episode of abuse or attempt of sexual abuse in their life. The higher percentage (45.1%, 83) suffered it between 10-15 years old, 23.3% (43) between 6-10 years, 10.0% (18) 16 and over. The 23.3% (43) said that the attacker was between 16 and 20 years old, 18.3% (34) 11-15 years, 9.2% (17) 31-40 years. The 19% (35) was assaulted by a neighbor, 16.4% (30) did not know the attacker, 15.3% (28) by a cousin and 11.9% (22) by a friend. The results revealed that a significant percentage of teenagers were victim of an attempt of sexual abuse or sexual abuse in the past, many of them within the family circle. The growing severity of the problem highlights the vulnerability of this population. Due to this, we suggest the implementation of prevention programs against violence and especially sexual abuse of children and adolescents.

Keywords : sexual abuse; violence; adolescence.

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