There is seldom just one single reason for sexual abuse of a child. More often than not, there is a whole series of circumstances behind the crime.
Girls are more at risk of sexual abuse than boys.
In modern prevalence studies, the ratio between the sexes varies between two and five girls for every boy. Compared with girls, boys are more often abused by someone outside the family and by an offender who has abused other children before. The children who are more liable than others to be sexually abused, espe-cially outside the home, are those who do not believe or know that they can say No to adults, those who are afraid of being punished, those who need affection from and ties to an adult but are denied these things. A greater risk is also incurred by children felt by others around them to behave in a sexualised way and for children with deficient parental supervision. Most commonly, in all investigations, the offender is known to the child and is part of the child's immediate surroundings.