학술논문
Attributions in a Hypothetical Child Sexual Abuse Case: Roles of Abuse Type, Family Response and Respondent Gender.
Document Type
Article
Author
Source
Subject
*CHILD abuse
*DOMESTIC violence
*CRIMES against girls
*BLAMING the victim
*PERSONAL criticism
*CRIME victims
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Language
ISSN
0885-7482
Abstract
The present study examines the impact abuse type, family response, and respondent gender have on attributions of blame in a hypothetical child sexual abuse (CSA) case. Three hundred and ninety three respondents read a hypothetical CSA scenario describing the sexual assault of a 14 year old girl by a 25-year-old man and completed 14 attribution items. Overall, the assault was deemed more serious, the perpetrator more culpable, and the family less culpable when CSA involved (vaginal) penetration. Contrary to expectations, respondents were more negative towards a family who denied the abuse took place versus one which blamed or supported the victim. Finally, male respondents deemed the abuse to be less serious, were more negative towards the victim and their families, and more positive towards perpetrators than were female respondents. The role these factors play in CSA attributions, together with ideas for future research, are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]