TY - JOUR
T1 - Child Sexual Abuse in the Roman Catholic Church in France
T2 - Prevalence and Comparison With Other Social Spheres
AU - Bajos, Nathalie
AU - Ancian, Julie
AU - Tricou, Josselin
AU - Valendru, Axelle
AU - Pousson, Jeanna Eve
AU - Moreau, Caroline
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research and/or authorship of this article: The survey was funded by CIASE, the independent commission on sexual abuse in the Church in France.
Funding Information:
We thank all women and men who agreed to participate in the survey. We thank Henri Leridon from the Académie des sciences in France for his helpful comments on this work. The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research and/or authorship of this article: The survey was funded by CIASE, the independent commission on sexual abuse in the Church in France.
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2022.
PY - 2023/4
Y1 - 2023/4
N2 - This study aims to estimate and compare Roman Catholic Church-related child sexual abuse (CSA) prevalence and characteristics to CSA in other social spheres in France since 1950. Using a cross-sectional representative web-based survey of 28,026 adults in 2021, the weighted prevalence of CSA was estimated according to six social spheres of perpetration: family, Church, school, sports club, artistic activities, and summer camps. Altogether, 14.60%, 95% confidence interval [CI: 13.41; 15.80] of female respondents and 6.38% [5.73; 7.03] of male respondents had experienced CSA. Family was the most common social sphere of perpetration (3.55% [3.18; 3.92]), followed by the Church (0.81% [0.62; 0.99] of respondents exposed) and public schools (0.32% [0.23; 0.40] of respondents exposed). Altogether, we estimate 213,000, 95% CI [147,000; 278,000] people were victims of Church CSA since 1950 in France. Church CSA was more common among men than women (1.28% [0.93; 1.64] vs. 0.34% [0.20; 0.48]) while the opposite was true for other social spheres. CSA was overwhelmingly perpetrated by men ranging from 93.37% in the Church to 97.65% in schools. Many victims spoke with someone about these abuses: 41.81% of the Catholic Church compared to 41.25% of school CSA victims and 51.68% of family CSA victims. Results suggest structural factors including gender norms, but also the spiritual authority of the priest and the culture of secrecy contribute to clerical CSA.
AB - This study aims to estimate and compare Roman Catholic Church-related child sexual abuse (CSA) prevalence and characteristics to CSA in other social spheres in France since 1950. Using a cross-sectional representative web-based survey of 28,026 adults in 2021, the weighted prevalence of CSA was estimated according to six social spheres of perpetration: family, Church, school, sports club, artistic activities, and summer camps. Altogether, 14.60%, 95% confidence interval [CI: 13.41; 15.80] of female respondents and 6.38% [5.73; 7.03] of male respondents had experienced CSA. Family was the most common social sphere of perpetration (3.55% [3.18; 3.92]), followed by the Church (0.81% [0.62; 0.99] of respondents exposed) and public schools (0.32% [0.23; 0.40] of respondents exposed). Altogether, we estimate 213,000, 95% CI [147,000; 278,000] people were victims of Church CSA since 1950 in France. Church CSA was more common among men than women (1.28% [0.93; 1.64] vs. 0.34% [0.20; 0.48]) while the opposite was true for other social spheres. CSA was overwhelmingly perpetrated by men ranging from 93.37% in the Church to 97.65% in schools. Many victims spoke with someone about these abuses: 41.81% of the Catholic Church compared to 41.25% of school CSA victims and 51.68% of family CSA victims. Results suggest structural factors including gender norms, but also the spiritual authority of the priest and the culture of secrecy contribute to clerical CSA.
KW - catholic church
KW - child abuse
KW - child abusers
KW - sexual abuse
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85139387050&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85139387050&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/08862605221124263
DO - 10.1177/08862605221124263
M3 - Article
C2 - 36189764
AN - SCOPUS:85139387050
SN - 0886-2605
VL - 38
SP - 5452
EP - 5470
JO - Journal of Interpersonal Violence
JF - Journal of Interpersonal Violence
IS - 7-8
ER -