Research on Sexual Victimization Across the Lifespan: Highlighting the Work of Emerging Early Career Investigators.

Sexual victimization is a pervasive public health concern with profound and enduring consequences across the lifespan. Although research has substantially advanced scientific understanding of childhood sexual abuse, scholarship has often focused on abuse within specific developmental stages (e.g. childhood sexual abuse [CSA], adolescent/adulthood sexual assault), limiting comprehensive insight into how sexual violence unfolds over time and across contexts. This special issue advances the Journal of Child Sexual Abuse's expanded focus on studying sexual victimization across the lifespan by featuring work of early career scholars who are conceptualizing sexual victimization as a dynamic, lifespan phenomenon shaped by intersecting developmental, relational, institutional, and structural forces. Throughout, the contributions of the early career scholars featured in this special issue highlight innovative methodological approaches to studying sexual victimization across the lifespan, while also centering historically underrepresented and underserved populations. As early career investigators themselves, the guest editors of this special issue have compiled a series of research articles that reflect the novel and innovative research approaches currently underway by the next generation of scholars. The findings presented in this series of studies carry meaningful implications for prevention and intervention, informing policy and programmatic efforts through an emphasis on culturally-responsive, survivor-informed, and contextually-tailored approaches. By integrating lifespan perspectives with methodological rigor and applied relevance, the studies in this issue aim to advance the scientific study of sexual violence, while also fostering collaborative efforts to prevent victimization and promote healing across diverse survivor communities.