ABSTRACT
Rates of child sexual abuse (CSA) in New Zealand are middling among the advanced democracies and lower than those found in less developed world. Numerous indicators of CSA were combined into a four-point scale: no CSA at all, into which category 85.9% of the sample fell; non-contact CSA, contact CSA not involving penetration, and severe contact CSA. Life satisfaction, self-esteem, physical health, sexual health, and income were all significantly higher for those who had experienced no CSA compared to those who had. One advantage of the New Zealand study is that the retrospective questions were asked when the sample was 18 and 21 years old, presumably near the time that any abusive events would have occurred, events that would be relatively fresh in respondents' memories. In New Zealand, treatment options for child sex offenders fall into three categories: prison-based interventions, community-based programs, and individual psychological interventions.
