Child Sexual Abuse Victimization Profiles Derived from Court Judgments
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Background/Objective: Child sexual abuse (CSA) encompasses heterogeneous experiences that vary in developmental timing, relational context, sexual intrusiveness, and chronicity, yet these characteristics are often examined separately. These configurations may shape evidentiary challenges and the incorporation of forensic psychological evidence in judicial proceedings. This study aimed to identify CSA profiles and examine their associations with witness statement and psychological injury assessments. Method: We systematically analyzed 446 Spanish court judgments for contact CSA between 2022 and 2025. Latent class analysis was conducted to identify victimization profiles from developmental, relational, and criminological indicators. Logistic regression models and average marginal effects examined between-class differences in assessments documented in the judgments. Results: Four profiles were identified: episodic extrafamilial touching abuse (Class 1; 24%), extrafamilial penetrative abuse (Class 2; 18%), recurrent intrafamilial touching abuse (Class 3; 31%), and chronic intrafamilial penetrative abuse (Class 4; 27%). Relative to Class 1, the predicted probability of a witness statement assessment increased by 15.0, 27.5, and 37.7 percentage points in Classes 2, 3, and 4, respectively. For psychological injury assessments, significant increases were observed only in Classes 3 and 4, amounting to 20.9 and 34.7 percentage points, respectively. Conclusions: CSA characteristics clustered into unique developmental, relational, and criminological configurations. Forensic psychological evidence was more strongly associated with younger victims and recurrent intrafamilial abuse dynamics than with sexual severity alone. These findings support a configuration-based understanding of CSA and underscore the need for evidence-based criteria for incorporating forensic psychological assessments into judicial proceedings. Keywords: latent class; sexual victimization; developmental timing; intrafamilial abuse; child testimony.
Institutions: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, University of Cologne
Language: English
Topic: Child Abuse and Trauma
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7204756597
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