NCJ Number
164963
Journal
Journal of Child Sexual Abuse Volume: 5 Issue: 2 Dated: (1996) Pages: 81-100
Date Published
1996
Length
20 pages
Annotation
Believing and blaming of alleged victims of child sexual abuse were measured in a community sample of 202 adults.
Abstract
Subjects completed a questionnaire that consisted of vignettes in which 11-year-old girls reported being sexually abused. A majority of respondents viewed the girl's report of sexual abuse as truthful; however, alleged victim retractions significantly reduced the credibility ratings for those reports. The effect of perpetrator socioeconomic status did not reach significance on either alleged victim believing or blaming. Females were significantly more likely than males to believe the girl's report of abuse and were more likely to believe children's reports in general. Females were significantly less likely than males to blame the girl for the occurrence of the abuse. Gender differences on believing and blaming remained significant when effects of respondent age and education were removed as covariates. Estimates of the prevalence of child sexual abuse varied widely, with no significant gender difference. Over half of the respondents believed that alleged victims aged 5 years or younger should be allowed to testify in court in child sexual abuse cases. 1 table and 31 references