CHICAGO -- As many as one in five boys is sexually abused, according to an analysis that tries to put the best number yet on a crime that often goes unreported.
The analysis, published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, was based on a review of 166 studies between 1985 and 1997. It concluded that sexual abuse of boys is underreported and undertreated.When sexually abused boys are not treated, society must later deal with the resulting problems, including crime, suicide, drug use and more sexual abuse, said the study's author, Dr. William C. Holmes of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
"When they don't get treatment, bad things happen," he said.
The earlier studies found that one-third of juvenile delinquents, 40 percent of sex offenders and 76 percent of serial rapists report they were sexually abused as youngsters.
The suicide rate among sexually abused boys was 1 1/2 to 14 times higher, and reports of multiple substance abuse among sixth-grade boys who were molested was 12 to 40 times greater.
Holmes said a review of the studies leads him to believe 10 percent to 20 percent of all boys are sexually abused in some way.
But widely varying definitions of sexual abuse in the studies and differences in who was being studied make it difficult to accurately gauge the prevalence of sexual abuse, he said.
Abuse of boys has not been well documented, in part because boys fear they won't be believed or will be labeled homosexual. And what might be considered abuse of girls, such as sexual touching, often is not reported as abuse when the victim is a boy, Holmes said.
Earlier studies have shown that 25 percent to 35 percent of girls are sexually abused, said Dr. Steven Kairys, chairman of the American Academy of Pediatrics committee on child abuse.