We need your help now
Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
By continuing, you are indicating that you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
A MAJOR STUDY has found that childhood sexual abuse in Ireland does enormous economic and social damage to survivors, even well into later life.
The survey, conducted by the ESRI and Trinity College Dublin, found that Irish men and women who were sexually abused as children were more than twice as likely as others to be forced out of work by sickness in later life.
Among the other major findings:
Speaking to TheJournal.ie, one of the researchers, Alan Barrett, said that the study measures, for the first time, the sheer scale and durability of the economic devastation that CSA causes among survivors.
We had had a sense that being a survivor of child sexual abuse had long-term economic consequences, but now those effects have actually been quantified.
Significantly, the research controlled for mental health problems, and socioeconomic status in early life, which could otherwise have explained why CSA survivors suffer disproportionate economic harms.
Take, for example, two comparable people, with similar economic circumstances in childhood, and who both suffer from depression or other mental health problems.What the study found is that if one is a childhood sexual abuse survivor, and the other is not, the childhood sexual abuse survivor is still far more likely to have negative labour market outcomes.And this is 30 years or more after the abuse itself.
“The Long-Term Impact of Childhood Sexual Abuse on Incomes and Labour force Status” which is published in a short summary today, found that CSA was slightly more prevalent among women than it was among men (6.7% vs 5.6% of all those surveyed.)
Some 8% of men and 6% of women aged between 50 and 64, and who were not sexually abused as children, are forced to leave the labour force through sickness or permanent disability.
Shockingly, among CSA survivors those numbers rise to 17% of men and 14% of women.
The study was based on self-completed questionnaires handed in by 8,500 people aged 50 and over and living in Ireland, between 2009 and 2011.
The full research paper will be published at a later date in the Journal of Behavioural and Experimental Economics.
Get help:
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Hopefully common sense will prevail
@Your Man: but this is IRELAND????
@Ken Mc Carthy: They’re gonna delay it 9 months apparently. lol.
I’ll probably get roasted for this but let’s call a spade a spade……..some folk like/ enjoy the occasional joint ( splif /doobey brother…..whatever the correct phraseology is nowdays?)now & again. Like what’s the harm in that??- personal choice / responsibility. Having the guards tied up with paperwork etc for an hour or two, all for what???? Live & let live
@Ken Mc Carthy: you might get toasted for it.
That group of doctors ignoring years of science should be ashamed of themselves. Hopefully their ignorant, likely ideology-based views are ignored. Legalise, regulate & tax everything.
@Art Vandelay: “I take this pill for this, and this pill to counter the symptoms for the first pill, and another to counteract the symptoms from that pill…..” Pharmaceuticals is a lucrative business. Those doctors are paid well for their opinions by Big Pharma who know that people who opt to self-medicate with cannabis will be detrimental to their business.
@Art Vandelay: we live in a society where the government is so concerned about the harms of canabis that its totally banned . The only restriction on the amount of alcohol you can get your hands on once your 18 is how much money you’ve got In your pocket. It don’t matter if your a convicted drink driver, gbh , domestic violence even an alcoholic the government just let you get on with it. Something don’t add up
@Art Vandelay: The world of Doctor bias is massive, there’s a really good one on YouTube where Dr. Berg completely takes apart a group of vegetarian doctors trying to spin eggs as a major cause of heart attacks, all backed by Pharma nodding vigorously.
@Thesaltyurchin: no doubt there’s a supplement or tablet you can take that’ll offset not eating eggs
Legalise now. It’s not a health issue any more than having a pint is.
Them lads in Carlow Garda Station will be delighted!
Before we embark on the legalising road we should check out how things are in Portugal.
There have been reports that all is not well.
@JP:
I’ve Googled for the last 10 minutes about Cannabis usage/legalisation in Portugal not going well and couldn’t find a thing.
Could you point me to these reports, please?
@JP: 60 years fighting the war on drugs. Over a trillion dollars spent globally. What progress has been made? Are there less drugs available? Are less people taking drugs? Seems to me the war is being lost and its cost a fortune. Surely we can’t just carry on regardless. If your fighting a loosing battle at least you have to try and look for a better solution. Giving organised crime a massive revenue stream has not really been the smartest move.
@JP: have you spent time in Lisbon? I have. the majority backed and appear to still back the decriminalisation.
@peter white: yes, surrendering to drug gangs seems the way to go.
@John Mulligan: nixon declared a war on drugs not drug gangs.
I am curious can anyone tell me what Liberal legislation ffg ever created off there own back .
Why are they so backwards and awkward with it. Oh, wait, Ireland…
Everyone in the Dail who has smoked cannabis raise your hand.
Did I miss something, imagine being disappointed ahead of time in a country ran the way this island is, or did they not already botch that in that the assembly naturally invited more people with vested interests in the pharma lobby and then rush the cannabis vote
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say