Alleged Sex Abuse Victims' Accounts of Their Abusers' Modus Operandi

Abstract

One hundred four alleged sexual victims aged between 3 and 13 years described the modus operandi of their reported assailants. Younger children were more likely than older children to report repeated incidents of abuse by family members. Abuse tended to be more severe when there were multiple incidents. Older victims were more likely to report resisting the offenders' strategies, which involved either persuasion (i.e., offering rewards, verbally convincing or provoking the victim) or coercion (i.e., verbal or physical threats). Adult suspects were reportedly more likely than young suspects to use persuasion, but there were no age of suspect differences in the reported occurrence of coercion.