Self-definition as a survivor of childhood sexual abuse among navy recruits.

This study explored how specific childhood sexual experiences (CSEs) might be related to self-identification as a victim of sexual abuse and to gender differences in self-defined victimization. Hierarchical logistic regression was used to estimate the relationship of demographic and CSE characteristics with self-definitions. The characteristics most strongly associated were threats-force, incest, and younger age at the time of the experience. Men were less likely than were women to acknowledge abuse and to report CSE characteristics indicative of abuse. Women were more likely to identify themselves as victims the more CSEs they reported involving sexual penetration. Finally, in an analysis of familial abuse, men were more likely to define themselves as victims if the perpetrator was also male.