Attributions of blame in a hypothetical internet solicitation case: roles of victim naivety, parental neglect and respondent gender

Paul Rogers, Ryan Wczasek, Michelle Davies

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle

Abstract

This study investigates attributions towards the perpetrator, the victim and the victim's parents in a hypothetical internet solicitation case. A community sample of 187 respondents read a vignette outlining an internet chatroom conversation between a 10-year-old girl and a 25-year-old man, followed by a depicted sexual assault, before rating 26 attribution items. Principal components analysis extracted six reliable and interpretable factors which were then subjected to a two-respondent gender×two-victim age×two-victim internet naivety×two-parental neglect between-subjects multiple analyses of variance (MANOVA). While levels of victim naivety had no impact on any measure, parents who were neglectful of their child's online activities were deemed more culpable for their child's later abuse than were parents who took an active interest in their child's activities. In general, females deemed the victim more credible than males. Implications are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)196-214
Number of pages19
JournalJournal of Sexual Aggression
Volume17
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 25 May 2011

Keywords

  • blame attributions
  • Internet solicitation
  • victims
  • parental neglect
  • gender differences
  • perpetrators
  • sexual assault
  • 10-yr-old victim
  • 25-yr-old perpetrator
  • Attribution
  • Blame
  • Human Sex Differences
  • Perpetrators
  • Sexual Abuse
  • Age Differences
  • Child Abuse
  • Child Neglect
  • Internet
  • Parental Involvement
  • Sex Offenses

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