Public opinion and knowledge about childhood sexual abuse in a rural community

Myths and Misunderstandings About Child Sexual Abuse in Criminal Investigations

Researchers have established that rape myths shape perceptions of victims and perpetrators in criminal cases. Researchers have devoted less attention to exploring the impact of child sexual abuse (CSA) myths in court. While we know that jurors believe myths and misconceptions about the nature of CSA, no work has explored how these myths appear during the prosecution of CSA cases. The purpose of the present investigation was to assess how defense attorneys apply myths more specific to CSA in the questioning of children testifying about alleged CSA. The present study compliments and expands upon a previous study by St. George and colleagues (2021a), where authors examined the use of rape myths in the questioning of children making allegations of CSA. In the current study, we examined testimonies of 122 children testifying in criminal cases of alleged CSA in the United States. We qualitatively coded 6,384 lines of questioning for references to CSA-focused myths related to the disclosure process, witnesses and privacy issues, assumptions of harm, and the child's positive relationship with the perpetrator. These myths were common, occurring in over 10% of defense attorneys' lines of questioning. Disclosure issues were the most frequent, followed by witness and privacy issues, assumptions of harm, and the child's positive relationship with their perpetrator. In many cases, attorneys employed different strategies across child's age to highlight these myths. These findings compliment those of prior work suggesting that CSA myths, much like rape myths, are appearing with regularity. Defense attorneys are likely capitalizing on jurors' misconceptions to undermine children's believability.

Blaming Children: How Rape Myths Manifest in Defense Attorneys' Questions to Children Testifying About Child Sexual Abuse

Since rape myths were codified in 1980 (Burt, 1980), scholars have shown that individuals who endorse rape myths perceive victims as less credible and more responsible for rape and perpetrators as less responsible. Studies also show that rape myths hinder successful adjudication of rape cases by influencing juries' assessments of perpetrator guilt (Dinos et al., 2015). While most of this research focuses on sexual assaults involving adult victims, some scholars have found that victims as young as 12 are blamed for rape. If rape myths influence the perceptions of sex offenses even when victims are children, then defense attorneys in child sexual abuse (CSA) cases may be motivated to highlight rape myth in CSA trials. In the current study, we conducted a content analysis of the cross-examinations of 122 children, aged 6 to 17, alleging CSA to determine if and how defense attorneys question children about rape myths. We looked for questions about force and resistance, motives to lie, victim precipitation, and character issues (e.g., habitual drug use). We found that defense attorneys commonly referenced rape myths in CSA trials. A total of 10% of all defense attorneys' lines of questioning referenced a rape myth, and attorneys asked 77% of children at least one rape myth line of questioning. Whether or not attorneys asked about different myths and the content of these questions varied by children's age. Our findings indicate that defense attorneys use rape myths strategically to undermine children's credibility in CSA trials, but they adapt (adult) rape myths in ways that are plausible in the CSA context. Policies formed to prevent the prejudicial impact of rape myths at sexual assault trials involving adults (e.g., rape shield laws) may not adequately prevent their impact in CSA trials. Prosecutors, therefore, should address rape myths at CSA trials.

Lay People´s Myths Regarding Pedophilia and Child Sexual Abuse: A Systematic Review

INTRODUCTION

The term "paedophilia erotica" was first coined in 1886 by the psychiatrist Krafft-Ebing and it was considered a "psycho-sexual perversion." It was at the beginning of the twentieth century that the term "pedophilia" was adopted and it started to appear in medical dictionaries. Sexual abuse is legally defined as the engagement in sexual contact with a person below a specified age or who is incapable of giving consent. Both, pedophilia and child sexual abuse (CSA) are worldwide phenomena requiring deep scientific knowledge in order to improve prevention strategies. Individuals' misconceptions of pedophilia and CSA may legitimize sexual violence, which can influence prevention strategies and policies.

OBJECTIVES

This review aimed to summarize existing research to help answer the question: "What are laypeople´s myths regarding pedophilia and CSA?"

METHODS

This systematic review followed the guidelines of Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses to identify as many relevant articles as possible. A literature search was conducted using PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and EBSCOhost databases for articles published before January 2022. Sixty-one articles were included in the current review.

RESULTS

Overall, findings revealed a significant number of myths regarding pedophilia and CSA, organized into the following categories: (i) blame diffusion, (ii) denial of abusiveness, (iii) restrictive stereotypes, (iv) victim age and consequences, (v) social stigma, (vi) punitive attitudes, and (vii) treatment.

CONCLUSION

Findings suggested that laypeople's perceptions should be taken into account when devising prevention policies. Additionally, perceptions should also be a target of prevention since there is evidence of social stigma and prejudice involving individuals with pedophilia. Such phenomena can contribute to social, emotional, and cognitive problems, among said individuals as well as causing these individuals to exhibit a higher risk for abusive behavior and less help-seeking. Glina F, Barroso R, Cardoso D, et al. Lay People´s Myths Regarding Pedophilia and Child Sexual Abuse: A Systematic Review. Sex Med Rev 2022;XX:XXX-XXX.

"DID YOU EVER FIGHT BACK?": Jurors' Questions to Children Testifying in Criminal Trials About Alleged Sexual Abuse

The current study examined jurors' questions to children in criminal trials assessing children's allegations of sexual abuse, demonstrating a new avenue for studying how jurors think about, respond to, and assess evidence. We used qualitative content analysis to examine jurors' questions to 134, 5- to 17-year-olds alleging sexual abuse in criminal trial testimonies. Five themes emerged: abuse interactions, contextual details of abuse, children's reactions to abuse, children's (delayed) disclosure, and case background details. Jurors often ask about abuse dynamics, the context surrounding abuse, and children's disclosure processes, reflecting common misconceptions about child sexual abuse (CSA), such as whether it is credible to delay disclosure or maintain contact with an alleged perpetrator. This study improves our understanding of how jurors understand and evaluate children's reports of alleged CSA, suggesting that jurors may struggle to understand children's reluctance.

Factors predicting conviction in child stranger rape

BACKGROUND

Public knowledge of child stranger rape is shaped largely by media portrayals of a small number of cases, often marked by sensational trials, which may result in juror misconceptions of this offense. It is important to understand the factors that may influence jury verdicts in order to maximize the chance of guilty defendants being convicted.

OBJECTIVE

The aim is to explore the factors that predict juries' decisions to convict or acquit in child stranger rape cases.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING

The study utilizes a police database of recorded child stranger rape cases from a UK urban force from 2001-2015. Seventy cases that were tried by jury were analyzed. We investigated the extent to which 19 child-, accused- and offense-related factors predict jury verdicts.

METHODS

A four stage analytic process was employed: (a) Kendall's tau-b measured inter-correlations among the factors; (b) Chi-Square and Welch t-tests measured associations between factors and verdicts; (c) binary logistic regression measured the power of factors in predicting verdicts; and (d) Stein's formula was used to cross-validate the model.

RESULTS

Verdicts were predicted by two offense-related factors. A weapon increased the odds of conviction by 412%. An outdoor location increased the odds by 360%.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings have potential implications for prosecution case building and courtroom policy. Prosecutors could gather as much information as possible from victims about the factors found to be of importance to juries. Judges could challenge incorrect beliefs and stereotypes by instructing juries.

Factors associated with perceptions of child sexual abuse and lack of parental knowledge: a community-based cross-sectional study from the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia

BACKGROUND

Child sexual abuse (CSA) has serious consequences that can affect the physical, social and mental health of a child. In the last two decades, concern about CSA has increased around the world including Saudi Arabia.

OBJECTIVE

Evaluate factors associated with parental perceptions and knowledge of CSA.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional survey.

SETTINGS

Primary health care clinic.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS

Simple random sampling was used to select participants. The main tool for data collection was a self-administered questionnaire.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Factors associated with knowledge and perceptions of CSA.

SAMPLE SIZE

400.

RESULTS

Most respondents (69%) had good knowledge of the signs of sexual abuse in children. For perception scores, statistically significant variables were age (P=.004), educational level (P=.005), income (P less than .001), number of wives (P=.004), number of male children (P=.021), and number of female children (P=.027). For knowledge scores, statistically significant variables were income (P=.008), number of wives (P less than .005), number of male children (P=.003) and number of female chil.dren (P less than .003). Logistic regression showed that the older age group was significantly associated with a good perception score (P less than .046).

CONCLUSIONS

Risk factors for parental lack of knowledge and poor perception associated with CSA are poverty and low education. Protective factors included the older parent age, size of the family and families with more than one wife. Education should be designed for parents and the community to increase the knowledge and perception of CSA.

LIMITATIONS

Single-center study and short study period.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

None.

Is Anybody Listening? The Literature on the Dialogical Process of Child Sexual Abuse Disclosure Reviewed

We conducted an exploratory review of the current literature on child sexual abuse disclosure in everyday contexts. The aim of this study was to provide an overview of relevant publications on the process of child sexual abuse disclosure, in order to generate new directions for future research and clinical practice. The findings of the exploratory review show that disclosure is a relational process, which is renegotiated by each interaction and evolves over an extended period of time. The characteristics and reactions of the interaction partner appear to be as critical to this process as the behavior and words of children themselves. Methodological limitations of the review and the publications are discussed, as well as directions for future research and implications for practice.

Teachers' Knowledge and Beliefs About Child Sexual Abuse

Child sexual abuse is one of the main types of abuse still to be addressed within the field of education, yet the education system itself can serve as a primary tool for its prevention. A better understanding of teachers' knowledge and beliefs about child sexual abuse will allow us to establish key starting points from which to utilize the system for prevention. Four hundred and fifty teachers participated in this study, completing a questionnaire regarding their knowledge and beliefs about child sexual abuse. The study revealed that over half the teachers, 65.3% (n = 294), had never received any type of training in child sexual abuse education and that the majority were not familiar with methods of identifying child sexual abuse, 90.7% (n = 279). Various mistaken beliefs were identified among the participating teachers, such as pathological profiles of abusers, that the vast majority of child sexual abuse implies violent behavior, and that there cannot be abusers the same age as the victim. These results indicate that knowledge deficiencies do exist about child sexual abuse among teachers and highlight the need for training in this field.

Preventing child sexual abuse: parents' perceptions and practices in urban Nigeria

This study examined parents' perceptions of child sexual abuse as well as prevention practices in an urban community in southwest Nigeria. Questionnaires were collected from 387 parents and caregivers of children younger than 15 years of age. Results showed that many parents felt CSA was a common problem in the community, and most parents disagreed with common child sexual abuse myths. In addition, almost all parents ( >90%) reported communicating with their child(ren) about stranger danger. However, about 47% felt their children could not be abused, and over a quarter (27.1%) often left their children alone and unsupervised. There were no significant variations in the perceptions of child sexual abuse and communication practices. The implications of findings for child sexual abuse prevention are discussed.

Child sexual abuse and its relationship with health risk behaviors among rural children and adolescents in Hunan, China

OBJECTIVE

The current study was designed to explore the prevalence of child sexual abuse (CSA) and its association with health risk behaviors (i.e., smoking, alcohol use, binge drinking, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempt) among rural children and adolescents in China.

METHODS

A sample of 683 rural children and adolescents (8 to 18 years of age) completed an anonymous questionnaire which assessed experiences of CSA and 5 health risk behaviors. Data on several potential confounding factors were also collected.

RESULTS

A total of 123 (18%) respondents reported experiencing at least 1 kind of CSA before 16 years of age, with more boys reporting CSA than girls (21.5% vs. 14.2%). In addition, attending non-boarding schools, lower levels of self-esteem, and higher levels of perceived peer pressure for engagement in health risk behaviors were associated with higher rates of CSA. Multivariate logistic regression analyses revealed that CSA experience was significantly associated with cigarette smoking (aOR=2.14), binge drinking (aOR=2.68), suicidal ideation (aOR=1.69), and suicide attempt (aOR=2.69) after controlling for several demographic and psychological factors.

CONCLUSION

More attention should be paid to the issues of CSA among rural children and adolescents in China. Effective CSA prevention intervention needs to address the vulnerabilities of the population, increase children's and parents' awareness of CSA and ability of self-protection.

Enhancing the credibility of complainants in child sexual assault trials: the effect of expert evidence and judicial directions

This study investigated the knowledge and misconceptions of jury-eligible citizens about children's reliability as witnesses and responses to child sexual assault (CSA), and examined the influence of expert evidence and judicial directions in challenging common misconceptions. Community volunteers (N = 130) read one of five versions of a simulated jury trial, and completed a pre- and post-trial questionnaire to provide measures of their knowledge of children's responses to sexual abuse, perceptions of victim credibility, and verdict. Results revealed that endorsement of CSA misconceptions negatively impacted ratings of complainant credibility and verdicts. Judicial directions provided before the child complainant testified enhanced complainant credibility, which in turn predicted guilty verdicts. Comparisons of the effectiveness of two procedural legal mechanisms to manage juror misconceptions and improve knowledge about CSA provide guidance for future researchers investigating ways to increase fairness in cases of CSA.

Children's abilities to recognize a "good" person as a potential perpetrator of childhood sexual abuse

OBJECTIVE

This study examined the ability of children to recognize "good" people as potential perpetrators prior to and after completing a personal safety program. There were three objectives to the study. The first was to determine whether young children could recognize the inappropriateness of a sexual request coming from people described as either "good" or "bad." Second, the study examined whether preschoolers could be educated to recognize inappropriate touch requests regardless of the good/bad descriptor. Finally, we explored if children's ability to learn the recognition skill depended upon their age.

METHODS

Ninety-three, primarily Hispanic (72%) preschool children (M age=3.9 years) completed the Body Safety Training program (BST; Wurtele, 2007), a classroom-based behavioral program. They responded to questions about "good" and "bad" people requesting to touch their private parts prior to and after the educational program.

RESULTS

At pre-testing, children had more difficulty recognizing inappropriate touch requests when made by "good" people compared to "bad" people. After completing the BST program, children improved in their ability to recognize the inappropriateness of requests made by both "good" and "bad" people. At pretesting, correct responding varied across age groups, with a greater percentage of older children (age 5) correctly responding to the "bad" cases compared to 3- and 4-year olds. At post-testing, a marginally significant age difference was found for cases involving "good" people and significant differences were found for cases involving "bad" people. Almost all 4- and 5-year-old children (94% and 96%, respectively) correctly responded to these inappropriate requests compared with only 71% of the 3 year olds.

CONCLUSION

Pre-test results demonstrated that young children had difficulty recognizing the inappropriateness of a request when it was made by a "good" person. Post-test findings demonstrated that children as young as 3 years of age can learn the inappropriateness of such requests even when coming from "good" people, although 3 year olds had more difficulty recognizing inappropriate-touch requests compared to 4- and 5-year-old children.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

Results support the challenge of helping young children learn to recognize potential perpetrators, especially those described as "good" people.

Prevention of child sexual abuse in China: knowledge, attitudes, and communication practices of parents of elementary school children

OBJECTIVE

Active involvement by parents may contribute substantially to the success of school-based programs to prevent child sexual abuse (CSA). In China, little is known about parental understanding of CSA. This study investigated Chinese parents' knowledge, attitudes, and communication practices with their children about CSA.

METHOD

Six hundred and fifty-two parents of Grade 3 pupils of seven elementary schools in Jingzhou city, Hubei province (central China), completed an anonymous questionnaire (response rate=81%).

RESULTS

More than 95% of respondents agreed that elementary schools should provide programs to prevent CSA and were willing to have their children participate in such programs. Although nearly all parents talked with their children about stranger danger, they were much less likely to talk specifically about sexual abuse. Many parents personally lacked basic knowledge about characteristics of perpetrators, the sexual abuse of boys, and nonphysical consequences of CSA. About half (46.8%) expressed some concern that CSA preventive education could cause their children to know "too much about sex." Contrary to expectations from research in western nations, parents who talked with their children about CSA did not have better knowledge or more supportive attitudes to CSA prevention than did parents who said they never discussed CSA with their children.

CONCLUSION

This study confirms and extends two recent surveys indicating strong support for the concept of school-based CSA prevention in China. However, given the apparently low levels of knowledge about CSA, even among those who talk about this problem with their children, future prevention programs should include community-wide efforts to educate adults to ensure that parental advice is accurate and hopefully, effective.

Ethnicity in child maltreatment research: a replication of Behl et al.'s content analysis

This study examines the use of ethnicity in 489 empirical research articles published in three major child maltreatment specialty journals from 1999 to 2002. Of the American samples, 12.5% focus on ethnicity, 76.2% report the ethnic composition of participants, and 33.8% use ethnicity of participants in analyses. Ethnicity has a significant effect in 52.3% of articles in which it was used in analyses, suggesting its importance as a variable in a wide range of studies. African Americans and Native Americans are underrepresented in research samples. These findings indicate more attention to ethnicity in American research than Behl, Crouch, May, Valente, and Conyngham's 2001 study might suggest but also highlight the need for continued expansion in focusing on, reporting, and using ethnicity in research.

Parental knowledge of child sexual abuse symptoms

The purpose of this study was to investigate parental knowledge of symptoms of child sexual abuse (CSA), and to determine the factors associated with that knowledge. A total of 150 parents listed symptoms of CSA in the following areas: physical/medical, emotional, sexual behavior, and behavior towards others. Results suggest that, although most parents are familiar with some of the symptoms of CSA, they are more likely to know emotional or behavioral reactions which could be suggestive of many other life stressors. Parents with higher socioeconomic status listed more symptoms, but race and parenting experience were not significant factors. Results suggest the need to inform parents of more indicative physical or sexual symptoms, and to target parents of lower SES background in awareness efforts. doi:10.1300/ J070v15n04_01.

Awareness of child sexual abuse prevention education among parents of Grade 3 elementary school pupils in Fuxin City, China

Several recent studies on child sexual abuse (CSA) in Chinese society have shown that the problem is not uncommon, and is associated with poor mental health and health-related risk behaviors of abused youth. It is very important to understand and improve public awareness of CSA prevention, especially for the parents. However, there are few published reports on the problem of parents' awareness. To fill this gap, knowledge, attitudes and practice of CSA prevention education were explored in 385 parents of Grade 3 pupils from four schools in Fuxin City of Liaoning Province in the northeast part of China by self-administered anonymous questionnaires. Among this sample, more than 80% of parents approved of school CSA prevention education. However, at the same time, 47.3% of parents expressed some concern that this education may induce the children to learn too much about 'sex'. Overall, about 60% of parents had told their children that their 'private parts' should not be touched by others and discussed strategies of 'Say "No!", Leave and Tell' in dealing with CSA situations or the situations that may lead to CSA. Only 4.2% of parents had provided books or other material about CSA prevention for their children. The parents' CSA prevention knowledge was inadequate. The findings from this research will be useful in developing CSA prevention education programs in schools and communities, designed to improve parents' knowledge and practice of CSA prevention.

Describing abuse of pregnant women and their healthcare workers in rural Appalachia

PURPOSE

This study compared the past and current abuse experiences in two rural populations: pregnant women and their healthcare workers, the majority of whom were nurses.

DESIGN AND METHODS

A descriptive study was conducted with pregnant and postpartum women (n=247) and healthcare workers (HCW) (n=91) in two Appalachian counties in Ohio. A written survey was used to collect the data.

RESULTS

In the HCW group, 17.6% (n=16) reported having experienced sexual abuse as children, as compared to 12.1% (n=30) of Mothers. In the HCW group 9.9% (n=9) reported violent treatment when they were children; the Mothers group reported this in 6.5% (n=16) of the cases. For the Mothers, 14.6% (n=36) reported violence during pregnancy, compared to 6.6% (n=6) of HCWs. Most HCWs (80.2%) reported times when they suspected clients might have experienced abuse or violence. Only 56% of HCWs said employers had policies about abuse assessment. Less than one half of the HCWs (40.7%) reported formal academic education preparing them to address abuse issues, and 83.5% reported needing more education to prepare them to work effectively with client abuse issues.

CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS

Assessment for abuse during pregnancy is an ongoing need. It is not known whether nurses and other healthcare workers who share the community's culture can effectively assess for abuse, due to their personal experiences involving abuse. Insufficient educational preparation for abuse assessment is common among healthcare professionals, and needs to be addressed. Additional research about the topic of cultural similarities and differences and their effects on abuse assessment are warranted.

The child sexual abuser: perceptions of college students and professionals

College students and members of the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers (ATSA) were compared as to their beliefs and attitudes concerning perpetrators of child sexual abuse. Analyses of a 44-item inventory (assessing beliefs about an abuser's demographics and attitudes concerning an abuser's cognitions and behaviors) indicated that the groups differed on perceived demographic descriptors (e.g., students believed perpetrators to be older when they first begin offending, more educated, and more likely to be gay than the professionals) and behaviors (e.g., students believed that the perpetrator was more likely to use force to gain the child's compliance). In addition, 2 subscales (Cognitive Distortions and Perceived Social Functioning) were identified. Compared to professionals, students were less likely to believe perpetrators use cognitive distortions and were more likely to believe perpetrators function at a lower interpersonal level. Results are discussed in terms of the efforts to educate the public about the characteristics of child sexual abusers.

Public perceptions of child abuse and neglect in a midwestern urban community

This study found that the majority of urban adults did not believe that any of the characteristics of children posed to them predisposed a child to abuse. In contrast, 40% of respondents claimed child abuse could not occur in a family like the one in which they grew up. The majority perceived only one characteristic, alcohol abuse, as a characteristic of child abusers. Few respondents (10%) believed that child abusers could not be helped, and 25% were not sure. Adults' perceptions of child abuse and abusers varied by sex, age, socioeconomic status, and whether the respondents had children. The data indicate that there are significant deficits in the respondents' knowledge of child abuse and neglect.