Abstract
Objectives:
Research results showed that in 50% of sexually abused boy cases and in about 25% -30% of sexually abused girl cases, the perpetrator was an adolescent, which shows that around 30% - 40% of all abuse cases was conducted by adolescents. This paper aimed to present two adolescent cases who committed sexual abuse and had been victims of sexual abuse themselves in the past; and to provide a review of the literature on adolescents engaging in sexually abusive behavior.
Method:
The national and international publications on adolescent sexual abusers were reviewed and the results were summarized.
Results:
Although in Western populations there has been a growing awareness of sexually harmful behaviors committed by children and young people, in Turkey few scientific data could be found on this issue. Adolescent sexual abusers could be from every socio-economic class, every racial, ethnic, and religious group. Ninety percent of juvenile sex offenders were found to be male. In comparison with the general population, abuse victimization history was higher among them. Most of them had experienced family dysfunction and the psychiatric morbidity rate was quite high.
Conclusion:
Family functioning, being an abuse victim, male gender, and psychiatric morbidity seem to be important factors with respect to sexually aggressive behavior.
Keywords: sexual abuse, child, adolescent, psychosocial factors
