The Bear Counseling Collective
Abstract
Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) is a significant public health issue worldwide. Estimates from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicate that 25% of girls and 5% of boys have experienced sexual abuse (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2024). However, the CDC’s statistics only reflect criminal convictions of CSA cases. Notably, a 2011 meta-analysis comparing official CSA data from 217 studies with approximately 10 million self-reported samples revealed that prevalence rates could be as much as 30 times higher than official statistics suggest (Beier et al., 2024; Stoltenborgh et al., 2011). This discrepancy highlights significant under-detection and identifies the inadequacies of offender-focused mental health treatments that primarily exist within the judicial system (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2024). Nevertheless, these programs have shown limited outcomes in preventing CSA incidents and lowering re-offending risks (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2024). This institutes the need to shift focus and include nonoffenders in future extrajudicial mental health treatments.
Recommended Citation
Moro López, Olinda
(2025)
"Breaking the Cycle: Addressing the Stigma of Non-Offending Individuals to Reduce the Risk of Child Sexual Abuse,"
The Bear Counseling Collective: Vol. 2, Article 4.
Available at:
https://digscholarship.unco.edu/bcc/vol2/iss1/4