Surveys of child sexual abuse in large nonclinical populations of adults have been conducted in at least 19 countries other than the United States and Canada, including 10 national probability samples. All studies have found rates comparable to North American research, ranging from 7% to 36% for women and 3% to 29% for men. (Author/DB)

This commentary discusses the decline in sexual abuse, citing research that indicates differences in self-reported sexual abuse across age-cohorts in a population-based sample of Australian adults. Similar declines in Ireland and the United States are also noted. The usefulness of self-report surveys for examining trends in child victimization is…