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. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 733-745 |
Number of pages | 13 |
Journal | Journal of Family Violence |
Volume | 22 |
Issue number | 8 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 9 Aug 2007 |
Keywords
- attributions
- hypothetical child sexual abuse
- abuse type
- family response
- respondent gender
- Attribution
- Child Abuse
- Family
- Human Sex Differences
- Sexual Abuse