Adult-Child Incest: A Sample of Substantiated Cases

This paper describes a sample of substantiated cases of adult-child incest. The sample consisted of 15 reports involving 26 victims. These cases were analyzed and discussed in relationship to previous studies. The preponderance of cases were of father-daughter or step/foster father-daughter involvement, with biological father cases the most numerous. The most frequent source of the initial report was the victim. Emphasis is placed on replicated and newly identified risk factors including alcohol dependency, spouse abuse, other (non-sexual) child abuse or neglect, inadequate housing, social isolation, birth order, and other family configuration variables.