Objective. To report on rates of sexual abuse among a normative sample of adolescents and identify psychosocial correlates associated with sexual abuse.Method. An anonymous self-report survey examining an array of psychosocial items to which 3448 grade 8 and 10 students from rural and metropolitan school districts in a southern state responded.Results. There was a 105 rate of sexual abuse among this normative sample. Victims of forced sex were disproportionately female and African-American, and were more likely to reside in single-parent households. These sexually abused girls reported significantly higher levels of risky health behaviors and risky attitudes on 11 ( P .001) of the 12 comparisons. Sexually abused boys showed a similar pattern on eight ( P .001) comparisons.Conclusions. Indications are that forced sex experiences are associated strongly with risky health behaviors in some adolescents, which should alert clinicians to the possibility of sexual abuse.
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