Adolescents the most common perpetrators of child sexual abuse

The most common perpetrator in Australia is another under-18 known to the victim, with numbers spiking in recent decades.

Child abuse by adolescents is on the rise.

By far the most common child sexual abuse perpetrator in Australia is another under-18 known to the victim, with numbers spiking in recent decades, while offending by adults has plummeted, a new study finds.

An astonishing 28.5 per cent of Australians say they had experienced at least one incident of sexual abuse while a child, including almost four in 10 girls – the vast majority by people they know – an analysis published in the prestigious International Journal of Child Abuse and Neglect reports.

Ten per cent said the perpetrator was an adolescent known to them, but not a current or former romantic partner, and another 2.5 per cent said their perpetrator was a current or former partner aged under 18.

Other common perpetrator types were parents or caregivers (7.8 per cent), other known adults (7.5 per cent), unknown adults (4.9 per cent) and institutional caregivers (2 per cent), the report finds. Some victims had more than one type of perpetrator.

The study suggests increasing representations of sexually active adolescents in popular and online media may be building perceived pressure on teens to have sexual experiences earlier, which combined with lower parental supervision and settings where there may be easy access to alcohol increases the risk of adolescent offending.

And greater access to violent pornography is playing its part.

“Adolescent consumption of pornography, especially when ­violent, may lead to distorted sexual scripts that legitimise sexual coercion and abuse, enhance its likelihood in lived experience, and undermine sexual activity with full, free and voluntary consent,” the article says.

Using information from the landmark Australian Child Maltreatment Study, a nationally representative sample of more than 8,500 people aged 16 and over, the peer-reviewed article clearly shows child sexual abuse by adults is decreasing and offending by adolescents is on the rise.

For instance, 21 per cent of all Australians aged 45 and over said an adult perpetrated their child sexual abuse, while 11.7 per cent of 16-24-year-olds said their perpetrator was over 18.

But, while 12.1 per cent of those 45 and over said their child sexual abuse was at the hands of an adolescent, almost one in five, 18.2 per cent, of 16-24-year-olds said an adolescent was the perpetrator.

“Child sexual abuse by known adolescents in non-romantic relationships is by far the single most common category of ­offending in contemporary Australian society,” said lead author Ben Mathews, a QUT law professor.

“As a society, we have never done enough to ensure healthy sexual and emotional development of our youth, and especially of boys.

“This is particularly concerning as the vast majority of child sexual abuse is inflicted by males.”

Child sexual abuse by current or former partners under 18 has shown a huge increase over time, with 1.7 per cent of Australians 45 and over reporting their perpetrator was an adolescent who was a current or former partner, compared to 5.7 per cent of 16-24-year-olds.

Chanel Contos, founder of the Teach Us Consent campaign, says the study confirmed her suspicions “that the rates that teenage girls experience sexual abuse at the hands of teenage boys is higher than any other demographic”.

“The trend of increasing adolescent perpetration is reflective of a culture where understanding of respectful relationships and consent are minimal,” Ms Contos said.

“We cannot ignore that role that pornography is playing in this as it is currently the main form of sex education for young boys.”

Professor Mathews, also a Professorial Fellow to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, said there was some positive news in the new study, which confirmed the reduction in child sexual abuse by some classes of adult perpetrators as a result of public policy and prevention efforts.

“In particular, substantial declines in child sexual abuse by parents and caregivers in the home, institutional caregivers, and other known adults, demonstrate success over recent decades in public policy and greater awareness by parents, caregivers and society in general,” he said.

Professor Mathews’ co-author, Daryl Higgins, director of the Institute of Child Protection Studies at the Australian Catholic University, said it was time policymakers treated adolescents who engage in harmful sexual behaviour as “a major public health issue”.

Professor Daryl Higgins, the director of ACU’s Institute of Child Protection Studies.

“Given the clear correlation between child sexual abuse and rates of mental and physical ill-health later in life, this is a critical public policy issue that needs attention and resources from governments,” Professor Higgins said.

“Adolescents need appropriate and targeted education to aid healthy sexual development and ensure they understand boundaries, rights and responsibilities within and beyond romantic relationships.”

The analysis finds girls are far more likely than boys to experience child sexual abuse from all types of perpetrator other than institutional caregivers.

“(Girls are) twice as likely to experience child sexual abuse by other known adolescents (non-romantic), 3.5 times more likely by parents/caregivers and seven times more likely by adolescents (who are) current or former romantic partners,” it says.

Chanel Contos, Founder of Teach Us Consent & Chair of The Global Institute for Women's Leadership's Youth Advisory Committee. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Ms Contos agreed the issue had become a critical public health policy concern.

“The thing with adolescent perpetrators is that it occurs at scale in a culture that excuses, enables and promotes sexual violence and abuse,” the author of the new book, Consent Laid Bare, said.

“This means that it can be prevented at scale. I believe consent education, empathy and respect towards girls and women, and pornography literacy, to be the main solutions.”

The study allows no grey area for what may be considered child sexual abuse compared to adolescent sexual experimentation.

It defines child sexual abuse as “contact and non-contact sexual acts before age 18 by any adult or child in a position of power over the victim, to obtain sexual gratification, when the child either does not have capacity to provide consent, or has capacity but does not provide consent”.

For contact sexual acts, the following questions were asked: “Did anyone ever force you to have sex?”; “Did anyone ever try to force you to have sex, even if it didn’t happen?”, and: “Did anyone ever touch your private parts when they shouldn’t have, or make you touch their private parts?”.

For non-contact sexual acts, the following questions were asked: “Did anyone ever look at your private parts when they shouldn’t have, or make you look at their private parts?”

Professor Higgins said the research was a timely reminder that the image of a child sexual abuse perpetrator as a creepy stranger was outdated.

“The vast majority of those Australians who were sexually abused as children experienced it at the hands of someone they knew; that is, from people including caregivers, family members, and other adolescents known to them, including those they were dating,” he said.

“We’ve long warned young people about ‘stranger danger’, but we need to change the focus to one of body safety and empowerment.”

Ms Contos said the study showed the amount of education and policy work required to combat the growing prevalence of adolescent-on-adolescent child sexual abuse.

“In a world where the entitlement to women’s bodies outweighs the empathy young boys feel towards women, we will always have devastating rates of adolescent-perpetrated child sexual abuse,” she said.

“To prevent at mass, we simply need to flip this around.”