PEDIATRICS Vol. 90 No. 1 July 1992, pp. 157-161
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Sexual Abuse and Corporal Punishment During Childhood: A Pilot Retrospective Survey of University Students in Costa Rica

Scott Krugman 1, Leonardo Mata MPH1, and Richard Krugman MD1

1 From the Instituto de Investigaciones en Salud at the University of Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica, and The C. Henry Kempe National Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Child Abuse and Neglect, University of Colorado Medical School, Denver

A sample of 497 students at the University of Costa Rica completed a survey on perceptions and experiences with various forms of punishment and experiences with sexual abuse during childhood. Spanking was shown to be the most widely accepted and most common form of discipline. The majority of the students considered most types of punishment forms of abuse. This study lacks a comparison group and cannot be generalized to the entire Costa Rican population. The section on sexual abuse demonstrated that 32% of the women and 13% of the men experienced some type of sexual abuse during childhood. The abuse mainly occurred between the ages of 5 and 10, and men were most often perpetrators.

Key Words: corporal punishment • sexual abuse • child abuse • Costa Rica

Submitted on January 21, 1992
Accepted on March 10, 1992