Theoretical Perspectives and Empirical Tests in the Field of Sexual Abuse Against Minors

Abstract

The article reviews the main theoretical and practical contributions in the field of sexual abuse against children. To this end, the article examines the following key issues in this area of research: the main obstacles faced by empirical research in this field, the risk factors which reinforce the perpetration of acts of sexual abuse, the incidence of sexual abuse in the contemporary world, the explanatory models of this phenomenon (biological, psychological, psychiatric, psycho-social, sociological), the specific theories and research with respect to the main characteristics of sexualaggressors. In this context, the article verifies the validity of the theoretical model of the "four factors" (emotional congruence, sexual arousal, blockage and disinhibition) proposed by David Finkelhor. The author of the present article opts, instead, for a multiple-factor explanation of the subject in question.

Keywords

• sexual abuse
• sexual aggression
• minors
• risk factors
• incidence of sexual abuse
• sexual aggression
• minors
• risk factors
• incidence of sexual abuse
• theories
• empirical tests
• the four-factor theory
• multiple-factor theory