Perceptions of Child Sexual Abuse: Victim and Perpetrator Characteristics, Treatment Efficacy, and Lay vs. Legal Opinions of Abuse

Abstract

Two studies examined interactions between victim age and victim response, and victim relation to perpetrator and victim response influencing perceptions of child sexual abuse (CSA). Undergraduates read one of several vignettes describing a sexual encounter between a man and a girl. In Experiment 1, age of the girl was varied; victim age interacted with victim response to increase ratings of abuse and expected trauma for the girl. In Experiment 2, age was held constant while victim relation to perpetrator was varied; men gave higher ratings of abuse than did women for scenarios involving a step father rather than a neighbor, regardless of victim response. In both studies, psychotherapy was expected to help the victim more than the perpetrator and the law was judged to be less stringent than it is regarding CSA. Results suggest that perceptions of CSA are influenced by several factors and that laws regarding CSA may not be well understood.

College Students’ Punishment Perceptions of Online Solicitation of Children for Sex

“…College students have been sampled in CSE perception studies on child sexual abuse and gender differences (Wellman 1993), teacher and student sexual encounters (Fromuth et al 2001;Smith et al 1997), attribution of fault (Broussard and Wagner 1988;Broussard et al 1991;Waterman and Foss-Goodman 1984), gender-role attitudes (Maynard and Wiederman 1997), and lay versus legal opinions of abuse (Reynolds and Birkimer 2002).…”

“…A consistent methodology within the CSE perception literature is the use of vignettes or scenarios (Broussard and Wagner 1988;Broussard et al 1991;Fromuth et al 2001;Hetherton and Beardsall 1998;Maynard and Wiederman 1997;Reynolds and Birkimer 2002;Smith et al 1997;Wagner et al 1993;Waterman and FossGoodman 1984). With this methodology, researchers present respondents with a written scenario describing a situation involving some form of CSE.…”

“…Lastly, victim age emerged as an important variable impacting perception. Importantly, offenses involving younger victims were treated more seriously (Maynard and Wiederman 1997;Reynolds and Birkimer 2002).…”

“…The present study utilized a 2×2×2 factorial design (Broussard and Wagner 1988;Broussard et al 1991;Reynolds and Birkimer 2002;Smith et al 1997;Waterman and Foss-Goodman 1984). Participants were presented with a written description of an incident involving OSCS between an adult and a child.…”

Dysfunctional Uterine Bleeding During Adolescence

“…Infections due to endometritis and pelvic inflammatory disease can cause AUB accounting to less than 10 % of all AUBs. Vaginitis and cervical inflammation or erosion can also cause vaginal bleeding [3,[8][9][10].…”