0145-2 I34/90 $3.00 + 00 Copyright ‘~81990 Pergamon Press plc
PROFESSIONALS’ ATTRIBUTIONS OF CENSURE IN FATHER-DAUGHTER INCEST PAULINE A. JOHNSON St. Helens & Knowsley
Health Authority,
R. GLYNN OWENS AND University
Merseyside.
UK
M. E. DEWEY
of Liverpool
NADINE E. EISENBERG Royal Liverpool
Children’s
Hospital,
Liverpool.
LJK
Abstract-Despite the recent increase in interest in the area of child sexual abuse. few studies have explored the attitudes of professionals involved in working with children. The present study investigates variables relating to the attribution of censure by two professional groups (teachers and social workers), to a victim of father-daughter incest, the father. and nonparticipating mother. Subjects were given one of four brief histories of a I4-year-old girl who had been sexually abused by her father. Cases varied according to whether the child had/had not resisted her father’s advances and whether she had/had not had other sexual experiences. Subjects then completed a questionnaire and indicated the extent to which they attributed censure to the child. her mother, and father, and the extent to which they believed she would he affected by her experiences. Results showed that responses were influenced by the level of resistance, other sexual experiences. and respondents’ sex and occupation. ~C,V IIi~dr-Incest.
Censure.
Professionals’
attitudes.
INTRODUCTION THE PROBLEM OF CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE is one which involves a wide range ofprofessionals, including teachers. social workers, psychologists. probation officers, psychiatrists, physicians, etc. Davenport (1977) has demonstrated a relationship between the general attitudes of psychologists and their specific response to child molesting cases. La Barbera, Martin, and Dozier (1980) reported that psychiatrists with more experience of incest cases tended to predict fewer harmful consequences (although all perceived incest as likely to be harmful). However, despite the likelihood of professionals’ behavior being strongly influenced by attitudes, few studies have attempted to examine attitudes in detail, and in particular to identify their determinants. In one of the few studies of professionals’ attitudes to child sexual abuse, Eisenberg and colleagues (1987) found that female victims were perceived as more seriously affected if they had intercourse with their fathers by comparison with those who had been
Received
for publication
December
Reprint requests to Pauline Johnson. side WA9 5DB UK.
IO, 1987; final revision received St. Helens & Knowsley 419
April 27: accepted
Health Authority.
August
6 Rainhill
31. 1989.
Road, St Helens. Mersey-
420
P. A. Johnson. R. G. Owens, M. E. Dewey. and N. E. Eisenberg
fondled. Sexual activity was perceived as equally serious when father or stepfather were involved. This study revealed a sex bias in that female respondents perceived the effects of incest to be more serious than male respondents. Also, a small minority of the respondents believed that the child would be responsible for initiating sexual activity with the adult. Little consideration has been given to the extent to which professionals blame the child in sexual abuse. Research looking at blame and responsibility in rape has found that the extent to which these are attributed to a victim may depend on a number of factors, including whether or not the attacker was a stranger and whether or not the victim was calm, (Krulewitz, 1982), or physically resisted (Krulewitz & Nash, 1979). Such findings highlight the need to investigate the determinants of professionals’ attributions of blame in other emotive areas, such as father-daughter incest. Previous sexual abuse literature has often identified the victim, especially the female victim, as playing a contributory role in abusing situations, e.g., Virkunnen (1981). Finkelhor (1984) mentions the well-publicized case of a judge describing a 5year-old girl as an “unusually sexually promiscuous young lady.” While Waterman and FossGoodman ( 1984) found no att~bution of fault to child victims by a majority of college students, those who did attribute some fault were more likely to do so on the basis that the child “should have resisted.” Broussard and Wagner ( 1988) found similar results in that a I5-yearold child was held more responsible when she was described as behaving in an encouraging manner than when described as passive. Moreover, the passive child was held more responsible than the child described as resisting. Although the father was rated highly on responsibility in all three conditions, he was attributed with less responsibility when the child was described as encouraging than when described as passive or resisting. However, it cannot be assumed that the attributions made by a naive group would parallel those of professionals in the field. The present study was conducted to investigate attributions of censure in two professional groups with important responsibilities towards children who are involved in incest. Questions were also addressed regarding the extent to which the child would be affected by the abuse.
METHOD The sample was drawn from two professional groups with an immediate interest in incest cases, teachers and social workers. Subjects were given a fictitious case history followed by questions about the case and the individuals involved. Elements of the case history were systcmatically varied according to whether or not the child reported other sexual experiences and whether or not the child reported having tried to resist.
Subjects (N = 26 I> consisted of 99 teachers and 162 social workers. The teachers (52 female, 47 male) were recruited from four state schools. Mean length of professional experience was 12.47 years, and 35.3% reported having some experience with working with sexually abused children, 73% of the sample reporting that their experience was limited to between 1 and 5 cases. The extent of involvement in each case is not known. A substantial proportion of the teaching group (70%) had either pa~icipated in and/or heard a discussion on child sexual abuse, with 43% of discussions taking place at work. Social workers (106 female, 56 male) were recruited from nine district social services offices, three hospitals, and two Certificate of Qualification in Social Work (CQSW) courses. Social workers’ mean length of professional experience was 8.26 years, and 56.2% reported having some experience of working with sexually abused children. Of those having reported having had some experience, 64% said it was limited to between 1 and 5 cases. Ninety-four percent of respondents reported having heard
Professionals’
and/or taken part in a discussion taken place at work.
attributions
of
censure
on child sexual abuse, with 84% of those discussions
421
having
Materials The case history had the following
general format:
Mr. and Mrs. G have three children, two boys and a girl. Ann is their second child and is 14 years old. Three weeks ago Mrs. G discovered Ann and Mr. G in bed together. Mrs. G reported this to the authorities, shortly after which Ann was interviewed. According to Ann, her father had been engaging in sexual activity with her for about two years. At first he had fondled her breasts and genitals, and had later progressed to sexual intercourse. Ann said that she had not tried to resist her father’s advances. When asked, she said that she had other sexual experiences apart from those with her father.
According to random allocation, subjects received (1) this case history, or (2) one in which or (3) the the final sentence was changed to read “. . .she had no other sexual experiences,” penultimate sentence was altered to read “. . .she had tried to resist her father’s advances, but these attempts had been unsuccessful,” or (4) both of the sentences were altered as described. A number of questions examined subjects’ attributions with respect to the role of the child, the mother, and the father in the abuse. Dimensions investigated were as follows: 1. For the child: fault, blame, played a part, accountability, consent, encouragement, cence. 2. For the mother: fault, blame, innocence, accountability, knew what was going on. 3. For the father: fault, blame, innocence, accountability, aware of what he was doing.
inno-
Four items were included to assess the subjects’ views on the effects of abuse on the child: the extent to which the child might be generally affected; the effect on subsequent sexual relations; the likely duration of counseling; and the likely duration of adverse effects of the abuse. Respondents were also asked to rate the extent to which they thought it likely that the father started the relationship because his daughter behaved in a seductive way. Subjects were also asked to provide demographic information. Questionnaire items were rated on seven-point Likert-type scales, e.g., totally at.fault or not at all at,fault. The individual questions and the direction of the responses were both randomized.
RESULTS Principal components analysis was carried out on the 17 ratings of the roles of the three participants in fhe different case studies and revealed three main components accounting for 64.8% of the total variance. Three summative scales were identified using those items with component loadings of .40 and above. Component 1, accounting for 34.8% of the variance, appeared to reflect censure. This consisted of ten items, seven of which were designed to measure attributions of censure to the child, (fault, blame, played a part, accountability, consent, encouragement, and innocence): two to measure attributions of censure to the father (blame, fault), and one item designed to measure attributions of censure to the mother (fault). Low censure for the mother and the child was associated with high censure for the father. Component 2, accounting for 18.7% of the variance, appeared to reflect mother censure. This scale consisted solely of the items designed to measure attributions to the mother (fault, blame, innocence, accountability, and knew what was going on). Component 3, accounting for 11.2% of the variance, appeared to reflect father censure. It consisted of the five items designed to
422
P. A. Johnson, R. G. Owens. M. E. Dewey. and N. E. Eisenberg Table I. Analysis of Variance Source Teachers Social Workers Male Female Did not resist Dtd resist Other sexual experiences No other sexual experiences
Summary:
Attribution
Means -2.17 -5.88 -3.18 -5.39 -3.02 -6.01 -3.07 -5.97
of ‘Censure’ to the Child I--
Signif. of F
7.584
p
PROFESSIONALS’ ATTRIBUTIONS OF CENSURE IN FATHER-DAUGHTER INCEST PAULINE A. JOHNSON St. Helens & Knowsley
Health Authority,
R. GLYNN OWENS AND University
Merseyside.
UK
M. E. DEWEY
of Liverpool
NADINE E. EISENBERG Royal Liverpool
Children’s
Hospital,
Liverpool.
LJK
Abstract-Despite the recent increase in interest in the area of child sexual abuse. few studies have explored the attitudes of professionals involved in working with children. The present study investigates variables relating to the attribution of censure by two professional groups (teachers and social workers), to a victim of father-daughter incest, the father. and nonparticipating mother. Subjects were given one of four brief histories of a I4-year-old girl who had been sexually abused by her father. Cases varied according to whether the child had/had not resisted her father’s advances and whether she had/had not had other sexual experiences. Subjects then completed a questionnaire and indicated the extent to which they attributed censure to the child. her mother, and father, and the extent to which they believed she would he affected by her experiences. Results showed that responses were influenced by the level of resistance, other sexual experiences. and respondents’ sex and occupation. ~C,V IIi~dr-Incest.
Censure.
Professionals’
attitudes.
INTRODUCTION THE PROBLEM OF CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE is one which involves a wide range ofprofessionals, including teachers. social workers, psychologists. probation officers, psychiatrists, physicians, etc. Davenport (1977) has demonstrated a relationship between the general attitudes of psychologists and their specific response to child molesting cases. La Barbera, Martin, and Dozier (1980) reported that psychiatrists with more experience of incest cases tended to predict fewer harmful consequences (although all perceived incest as likely to be harmful). However, despite the likelihood of professionals’ behavior being strongly influenced by attitudes, few studies have attempted to examine attitudes in detail, and in particular to identify their determinants. In one of the few studies of professionals’ attitudes to child sexual abuse, Eisenberg and colleagues (1987) found that female victims were perceived as more seriously affected if they had intercourse with their fathers by comparison with those who had been
Received
for publication
December
Reprint requests to Pauline Johnson. side WA9 5DB UK.
IO, 1987; final revision received St. Helens & Knowsley 419
April 27: accepted
Health Authority.
August
6 Rainhill
31. 1989.
Road, St Helens. Mersey-
420
P. A. Johnson. R. G. Owens, M. E. Dewey. and N. E. Eisenberg
fondled. Sexual activity was perceived as equally serious when father or stepfather were involved. This study revealed a sex bias in that female respondents perceived the effects of incest to be more serious than male respondents. Also, a small minority of the respondents believed that the child would be responsible for initiating sexual activity with the adult. Little consideration has been given to the extent to which professionals blame the child in sexual abuse. Research looking at blame and responsibility in rape has found that the extent to which these are attributed to a victim may depend on a number of factors, including whether or not the attacker was a stranger and whether or not the victim was calm, (Krulewitz, 1982), or physically resisted (Krulewitz & Nash, 1979). Such findings highlight the need to investigate the determinants of professionals’ attributions of blame in other emotive areas, such as father-daughter incest. Previous sexual abuse literature has often identified the victim, especially the female victim, as playing a contributory role in abusing situations, e.g., Virkunnen (1981). Finkelhor (1984) mentions the well-publicized case of a judge describing a 5year-old girl as an “unusually sexually promiscuous young lady.” While Waterman and FossGoodman ( 1984) found no att~bution of fault to child victims by a majority of college students, those who did attribute some fault were more likely to do so on the basis that the child “should have resisted.” Broussard and Wagner ( 1988) found similar results in that a I5-yearold child was held more responsible when she was described as behaving in an encouraging manner than when described as passive. Moreover, the passive child was held more responsible than the child described as resisting. Although the father was rated highly on responsibility in all three conditions, he was attributed with less responsibility when the child was described as encouraging than when described as passive or resisting. However, it cannot be assumed that the attributions made by a naive group would parallel those of professionals in the field. The present study was conducted to investigate attributions of censure in two professional groups with important responsibilities towards children who are involved in incest. Questions were also addressed regarding the extent to which the child would be affected by the abuse.
METHOD The sample was drawn from two professional groups with an immediate interest in incest cases, teachers and social workers. Subjects were given a fictitious case history followed by questions about the case and the individuals involved. Elements of the case history were systcmatically varied according to whether or not the child reported other sexual experiences and whether or not the child reported having tried to resist.
Subjects (N = 26 I> consisted of 99 teachers and 162 social workers. The teachers (52 female, 47 male) were recruited from four state schools. Mean length of professional experience was 12.47 years, and 35.3% reported having some experience with working with sexually abused children, 73% of the sample reporting that their experience was limited to between 1 and 5 cases. The extent of involvement in each case is not known. A substantial proportion of the teaching group (70%) had either pa~icipated in and/or heard a discussion on child sexual abuse, with 43% of discussions taking place at work. Social workers (106 female, 56 male) were recruited from nine district social services offices, three hospitals, and two Certificate of Qualification in Social Work (CQSW) courses. Social workers’ mean length of professional experience was 8.26 years, and 56.2% reported having some experience of working with sexually abused children. Of those having reported having had some experience, 64% said it was limited to between 1 and 5 cases. Ninety-four percent of respondents reported having heard
Professionals’
and/or taken part in a discussion taken place at work.
attributions
of
censure
on child sexual abuse, with 84% of those discussions
421
having
Materials The case history had the following
general format:
Mr. and Mrs. G have three children, two boys and a girl. Ann is their second child and is 14 years old. Three weeks ago Mrs. G discovered Ann and Mr. G in bed together. Mrs. G reported this to the authorities, shortly after which Ann was interviewed. According to Ann, her father had been engaging in sexual activity with her for about two years. At first he had fondled her breasts and genitals, and had later progressed to sexual intercourse. Ann said that she had not tried to resist her father’s advances. When asked, she said that she had other sexual experiences apart from those with her father.
According to random allocation, subjects received (1) this case history, or (2) one in which or (3) the the final sentence was changed to read “. . .she had no other sexual experiences,” penultimate sentence was altered to read “. . .she had tried to resist her father’s advances, but these attempts had been unsuccessful,” or (4) both of the sentences were altered as described. A number of questions examined subjects’ attributions with respect to the role of the child, the mother, and the father in the abuse. Dimensions investigated were as follows: 1. For the child: fault, blame, played a part, accountability, consent, encouragement, cence. 2. For the mother: fault, blame, innocence, accountability, knew what was going on. 3. For the father: fault, blame, innocence, accountability, aware of what he was doing.
inno-
Four items were included to assess the subjects’ views on the effects of abuse on the child: the extent to which the child might be generally affected; the effect on subsequent sexual relations; the likely duration of counseling; and the likely duration of adverse effects of the abuse. Respondents were also asked to rate the extent to which they thought it likely that the father started the relationship because his daughter behaved in a seductive way. Subjects were also asked to provide demographic information. Questionnaire items were rated on seven-point Likert-type scales, e.g., totally at.fault or not at all at,fault. The individual questions and the direction of the responses were both randomized.
RESULTS Principal components analysis was carried out on the 17 ratings of the roles of the three participants in fhe different case studies and revealed three main components accounting for 64.8% of the total variance. Three summative scales were identified using those items with component loadings of .40 and above. Component 1, accounting for 34.8% of the variance, appeared to reflect censure. This consisted of ten items, seven of which were designed to measure attributions of censure to the child, (fault, blame, played a part, accountability, consent, encouragement, and innocence): two to measure attributions of censure to the father (blame, fault), and one item designed to measure attributions of censure to the mother (fault). Low censure for the mother and the child was associated with high censure for the father. Component 2, accounting for 18.7% of the variance, appeared to reflect mother censure. This scale consisted solely of the items designed to measure attributions to the mother (fault, blame, innocence, accountability, and knew what was going on). Component 3, accounting for 11.2% of the variance, appeared to reflect father censure. It consisted of the five items designed to
422
P. A. Johnson, R. G. Owens. M. E. Dewey. and N. E. Eisenberg Table I. Analysis of Variance Source Teachers Social Workers Male Female Did not resist Dtd resist Other sexual experiences No other sexual experiences
Summary:
Attribution
Means -2.17 -5.88 -3.18 -5.39 -3.02 -6.01 -3.07 -5.97
of ‘Censure’ to the Child I--
Signif. of F
7.584
p
