Intra-familial Child Sexual Abuse among Adolescents in Rivers State, Nigeria: Analyzing Contributing Factors and Victim-perpetrator Characteristics

Background: The global prevalence of intra-familial child sexual abuse (IF CSA) is uncertain because only a fraction of the incidence is ever reported. This study investigated the prevalence and characteristics of IF CSA among adolescents in Rivers State, Nigeria.

Methods: This cross-sectional retrospective study was done in 2013 using a modified self-administered questionnaire adapted from a previous study. Participants were adolescents attending secondary schools in Obio Akpor Local Government Area in Rivers State, Nigeria. A multistage sampling technique was employed to identify 573 victims of CSA aged 10-19 years. Descriptive and inferential statistics were carried out using SPSS version 25, the level of significance was set at ≤0.05.

Results: Results showed that 572 adolescents reported that they had experienced sexual abuse. This number comprised 183 (32.0%) males and 389 (68.0%) females giving a male-to-female ratio of CSA of 1:2. Of the 572 victims, 408 (71.3%) reported being victims of IF CSA, with over half (55.4%) of them aged between 10-13 years. The mean age of the victims at the time of occurrence was 13.3 ± 1.2 years, with younger adolescents more likely to experience IF CSA. The males were slightly younger than the females at the time of abuse (p=0.04). The majority of perpetrators of IF CSA were females (75.0%) and most were students. The rate of disclosure of IF CSA was low, reasons for non-disclosure include fear, shame and the relationship with their perpetrators. Risk factors for IF CSA included low socio-economic class, living status of the participant and younger age.

Conclusion: The prevalence of IF CSA is high, risk factors include lower social class, younger age and living status of the child. Females are the major perpetrators; the level of disclosure is low. There is a need for targeted prevention and intervention programmes to alert parents and guardians of these crimes.