Abstract:

Purpose: Child abuse continues around the world as a secret health and social problem. Identification of risk factors is necessary for the development of preventive services. In this study, the demographic and psychiatric characteristics of children who have been sexually abused and the identity characteristics of the abuser were assessed for judicial assessment. Tools and methods: The children and adolescents who were directed to the psychiatrist for the purpose of the judicial mental state examination were assessed the files of the incidents of sexual abuse of the age group n=41; 9 men, 32 girls). Psychiatric Diagnoses for School Age Children Emotional Disorders and Schizophrenia Conversation Characteristics in the files in which it is placed according to the Turkish version of the age, gender, socio-economic level, diagnoses and characteristics of the facts are studied by identifiable statistical methods. The average age of cases was 11.54 ± 3.31 years. The socio-economic status of the families was at the lowest level at 51.2%. All the abuses were male and the average age was 23 (14-68). In terms of the victims’ close proximity, the family members (parents and brothers: 12.2%), close relatives ( 19.5%), distant relatives (22.0%) and other acquaintances ( neighbors, friends) (14.6%) were 24.4% of the people they never knew before. 19,5 percent of the cases had a lack of intelligence. The most common diagnoses of the events were: 46.3% and post-traumatic stress disorders were other anxiety disorders (17.1%) and major depression (24.4%). Result: The risk factors of sexual abuse identified in this study are: being a girl, being in late childhood, having an intelligence retardation, coming from a family at a low socio-economic level. They are usually adults that the child knows. To prevent child abuse, protective services should be spread to the whole society, including especially high-risk groups.

Keywords: