Document Type

Article

Journal/Book Title/Conference

Utah Women Stats Research Snapshot

Volume

56

Publisher

Utah Women & Leadership Project

Publication Date

4-3-2025

First Page

1

Last Page

6

Abstract

Child sexual abuse (CSA) is a significant social, criminal justice, and public health issue that impacts families, neighborhoods, and communities of all racial/ethnic, socioeconomic, and cultural backgrounds. CSA is underreported, underfunded, and often accompanied by lifelong negative impacts on survivors’ physical, mental, and emotional health. Importantly, we acknowledge that not all who have experienced child sexual abuse feel that the term survivor (instead of victim) adequately conveys their feelings and experiences. However, for the sake of simplicity and to align with the terminology used in most research, we use the term in this report. Unfortunately, most survivors do not disclose the abuse until they are adults—and that is if they disclose at all—resulting in many child victims who do not receive help, services, or support, and may even operate under the mistaken idea that they were responsible for what happened to them. In fact, it is widely accepted among researchers and child advocates that the actual incidence of sexual abuse is higher than current data suggest, and self-blame, embarrassment, threats, fear of not being believed, and apprehension about consequences to the perpetrator may contribute to underreporting.

Child sexual abuse is a critical issue to address, and, since Utah girls experience disproportionate rates of CSA, bringing attention to the issue aligns with the Utah Women & Leadership Project’s (UWLP) mission to strengthen the impact of Utah girls and women. Our hope is that this snapshot will serve as a call to action for every Utahn to unite under a comprehensive strategy to address CSA and protect all Utah children.

This research snapshot focuses on four key areas:

  1. Defines CSA and provides statistics regarding prevalence data at state and national levels, and among various demographics,
  2. Presents survey results of Utahns’ awareness, understanding, and perceptions of the issue of CSA,
  3. Describes potential social, physical, mental, and emotional long-term impacts of CSA, and,
  4. Makes recommendations for addressing and preventing CSA.

Download

Included in

Business Commons

Share

COinS