Repeated sexual victimization of adolescents by their peers: The perceptions of adolescents, their parents, and the practitioners at a child advocacy center

Various studies have indicated the many risks that characterize the period of adolescence. However, not much attention has been dedicated to the phenomenon of repeated sexual victimization in adolescence and even less to this phenomenon when it occurs among peers. The current qualitative study was designed in order to explore this phenomenon via the perspectives of child advocacy center practitioners working with adolescent victims and their parents. The study findings indicated that the adolescents at the heart of this study had likely been at continuous risk, as they had shown ongoing signs of distress over the years. This risk was evident not only at the individual level but also at the level of the family, which was typified by a chaotic dynamic. The difficult relationship between the parents and their adolescent children was, in part, manifested in the parents' reactions to the abuse, as revealed in the theme of “She is the one to blame.” Other study findings pointed to the school's potentially central role in these situations. One of this study's strongest recommendations is for immediate collaboration between the multiple systems in adolescents' lives, a previously suggested recommendation that, sadly, seems yet to have been implemented.