A study to assess the knowledge and its relationship with self confidence and assertiveness skills towards sexual abuse among young adolescent girls

Adolescent is a stage of development transition i.e. a bridge between childhood and adulthood. It is a progress from appearance of secondary sex characteristics (puberty) to sexual and reproductive maturity. It is the stage of development of adult mental process and adult identity and transition from total socio-economic dependent to relative independent. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines in 1996, adolescence as the period of life between ages 10 and 19 years. Sexual Abuse against girl children is a Human Rights violation seen across the globe. Adolescents may be misinformed or mislead on facts about Sexual abuse having their own perception on the issue. This study investigates the sexual abuse knowledge of adolescent girls and their levels of Self-confidence and Assertiveness skills. Respondent’s opinion on their reactions to some Sexual abuse situations was also gathered. Four selected High Schools of Chengalpattu district was the study population. 100 respondents i.e. 25 girl children from each school were identified using simple random sampling method. Descriptive research design, structured questionnaires (self-prepared and validated) to assess the knowledge on Sexual abuse and measure the Level of Self Confidence and Assertiveness was used.&nbsp