Children Sexually Abused by Multiple Perpetrators

Abstract

This study investigates familial characteristics, as measured by the Family Environment Scale, and characteristics of the initial abuse experience as risk factors for multiple sexual victimization. Subjects were 324 college women including 16 with a history of sexual abuse by more than one perpetrator, 146 with a history of sexual abuse by a single perpetrator, and 162 with no history of abuse. Multiple-perpetrator victims characterized their families as displaying less cohesion, less expressiveness, more conflict, and more hierarchical rigidity in rule-governed behavior than did either single-perpetrator victims or nonvictims. In addition, both multiple-perpetrator victims and single-perpetrator victims reported that their families displayed less organization than did nonvictims. Multiple-perpetrator victims were both more likely to be abused by an intrafamilial perpetrator at first abuse, and to be younger at the onset of the first abuse, than were single-perpetrator victims. Initial abuse characteristics were related to characteristics of later victimizations. It is suggested that family dysfunction and initial abuse characteristics may serve as risk factors for multiple victimization.