Illuminated:
Johnathan Drake,
I don't know where you're getting your facts/ statistics, it is incorrect. Most sex offenders were Not sexually assaulted as children and it is a misconception that a child who's sexually assaulted is more likely to become a predator or homosexual.
secondly, statistics have shown for years that a person who is sexually abused is more likely to be come a sexual predator. I have read that in many places
I won't address the "homosexual" part of your statement, but if you really are interested in the provision of statistical information on the prediction of becoming an adult perpetuator after being abused as a child, the following study will provide it for you:
Cycle of child sexual abuse: links between being a victim and becoming a perpetrator
Abstract
Background There is widespread belief in a ‘cycle’ of child sexual abuse, but little empirical evidence for this belief.
Aims To identify perpetrators of such abuse who had been victims of paedophilia and/or incest, in order to: ascertain whether subjects who had been victims become perpetrators of such abuse; compare characteristics of those who had and had not been victims; and review psychodynamic ideas thought to underlie the behaviour of perpetrators.
Method Retrospective clinical case note review of 843 subjects attending a specialist forensic psychotherapy centre.
Results Among 747 males the risk of being a perpetrator was positively correlated with reported sexual abuse victim experiences. The overall rate of having been a victim was 35% for perpetrators and 11% for non-perpetrators. Of the 96 females, 43% had been victims but only one was a perpetrator. A high percentage of male subjects abused in childhood by a female relative became perpetrators. Having been a victim was a strong predictor of becoming a perpetrator, as was an index of parental loss in childhood.
Conclusions The data support the notion of a victim-to-victimiser cycle in a minority of male perpetrators but not among the female victims studied. Sexual abuse by a female in childhood may be a risk factor for a cycle of abuse in males.
Illuminated, your statement that most child abusers were not victims themselves is correct. However, the above study does show that being a child victim has a bearing on some perpetuators. Not all and not most...but it does have a bearing. In the perpetuator group, 35% had been child victims and in the non-perpetuator group, 11% had been victimized.
The above study identifies several other factors that will have a bearing and it is the combination of those factors that need to be considered. Being a child victim is only one of the contributing factors.