Repeated Exposure to Pornography and Arousal Levels of Subjects Varying in Guilt

The present research attempted to determine whether the negative relationship between level of guilt and tendency to respond sexually which is often found in the literature was due to the fact that guilt reduces sexual arousal as suggested by Galbraith (1968). Two studies were performed. In Study 1, 42 male undergraduates rated sexual arousal as well as a variety of other feelings after reading each of eight different pornographic passages. In Study 2, 40 subjects made similar ratings each time after reading the same page of pornography for eight trials. In both studies subjects high and low in sex guilt initially reported a moderate level of sexual arousal which then declined with repeated exposure. The minimal sexual responding of subjects high in guilt found in the literature may very likely be a function of inhibition and not, as Galbraith suggests, a function of a lower level of sexual arousal.

Child maltreatment in Missouri: combining data for public health surveillance

BACKGROUND

Public health surveillance was established for nonfatal child maltreatment in Missouri using two data sources. This paper describes the epidemiology of nonfatal child maltreatment using this surveillance system, and assesses the usefulness of combining medical data with child protective services (CPS) reports for child maltreatment surveillance.

METHODS

Child abuse and neglect reports for children aged <10 years for 2000 were obtained from the Missouri Division of Family Services (DFS) and linked to hospital discharge and emergency department (ED) data for 2000. Children were classified as maltreated if they had an International Classification of Disease (ICD) maltreatment code for a hospital or ED visit, or a substantiated report to DFS. Validity of the ICD maltreatment codes was assessed in a 10% random sample of the hospital/ED visits. Medical records were reviewed to determine the accuracy of the maltreatment code assigned. The data analyses reported here were conducted in 2002 and 2003.

RESULTS

In the linked data, 5657 children met the case definition of maltreatment, providing a nonfatal maltreatment rate of 7.4/1000 children. Rates were higher among children aged <1 year (8.4/1000), females (7.7/1000), African Americans (11.8/1000), and children residing in rural counties (8.7/1000). The hospital/ED data identified proportionately more children who were African American, urban, physically abused, or infants, and uniquely identified only 10% of the total cases. In the validation sample, maltreatment was documented in 110 (87%) of the 127 records reviewed.

CONCLUSIONS

CPS and medical data can be linked for surveillance. However, the medical data add few unique cases and identify only a subset of maltreated children.