Dados demográficos, psicológicos e comportamentais de crian？as e adolescentes vítimas de abuso sexual

background: there is a well known relationship between sexual abuse in children and mental health disorders, which is seen both in clinical practice as in the scientific literature. objective: to describe demographic profile as well as behavioral and emotional features of a cohort of children and adolescents sexually abused. método: 205 children and adolescent, ranging from 6 to 14 years old, 130 girls (age 9.6 ± 3.4 yo) and 75 boys (age 7.2 ± 2.9 yo) were evaluated due to being victims of sexual abuse between the years 2005 and 2009. gender, age, relationship with the perpetrator, psychological and psychiatric symptoms, behavioral and affective-emotional features (blame, shame, fearfulness, male and female figures image and self perception) were all properly evaluated. results: girls were the main victims (63.4%). the riskier age ranging from 7 to 10 yo (48.5%) among then, and from 3 to 6 yo (54.6%) for the boys. fathers are the major perpetrators (38%) followed by step-fathers (29%). boys and girls show high risk for depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (ptsd) symptoms. girls tend to be more sexualized whilst boys tend to isolate themselves. discussion: this research allowed to identify an important set of psychological, psychiatric and behavioral characteristics that affect the normal emotional development of children and adolescents.