Journal of Child Sexual Abuse最新文献

This special issue, edited by the co-editors of the Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment, and Trauma (JAMT) and the Journal of Child Sexual Abuse (JCSA) is designed to promote JCSA's expanded scope to include sexual victimization across the lifespan. The 12 articles included in this special issue are in three main areas reflective of this expanded scope of the Journal. The first of these is understanding the significant and persisting negative impacts of childhood sexual abuse into adulthood. The second is understanding the prevalence and impact of different forms of sexual victimization among members of historically understudied groups. The final is on the development of assessment instruments and programs to prevent sexual violence and reduce its impacts. It is hoped that this expanded scope of JCSA on sexual victimization across the lifespan will foster future scholarship that seeks to understand, prevent, and respond to sexual violence in its various forms, as well as greater collaboration among scientists, practitioners, advocates, and policy makers to prevent, respond to, and ultimately eradicate sexual violence.

The current study evaluates a single-day youth-designed sexual assault prevention summit for adolescents. Attendees (N = 284) completed pre-and post-summit surveys addressing 1) confidence in consent knowledge; 2) perceived capability to respond to someone who was assaulted or harassed; 3) awareness of Title IX rights; 4) perceived capacity to get help for a survivor; 5) perceived acceptability of sexual coercion; 6) endorsement of belief that it is wrong to stop sexual activity once it starts; 7) perceived seriousness of sharing nude photos without permission; and, 8) perceived prevalence of false accusations of sexual violence. At post-summit, participants reported increased perceived confidence in consent knowledge, increased perceived capacity to respond to a survivor, increased awareness of Title IX rights, and increased perceived capacity to get help for a survivor. Both perceived acceptability of sexual coercion and endorsement of the belief that someone should not stop sexual activity decreased at post-summit. Findings provide preliminary support for a youth-developed sexual assault prevention summit.

Bisexual (i.e. those with attraction to multiple genders) women experience disparities in sexual violence and mental health outcomes, including PTSD, depression, and hazardous drinking, compared to lesbian and heterosexual women. Unique stigma due to bisexual identity (antibisexual stigma), negative reactions to sexual violence (SV) disclosure (e.g. victim blaming), and prior child sexual abuse (CSA) may all contribute to shame. We tested whether shame explained the associations of antibisexual stigma, negative reactions to SV disclosure, and CSA severity with PTSD symptoms, depression, and hazardous drinking among young bisexual women. Participants who self-identified as bisexual women, between the ages of 18-35, residing in the US were recruited via Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk) and completed online questionnaires. Women who reported SV since age 18 that they disclosed to someone were included in the current study, yielding a sample of 156 bisexual women (Mage = 25.7; 98.1% cisgender, 86.5% White). Path analysis with bias-corrected bootstrapping was conducted. There were significant direct effects of negative reactions on hazardous drinking and CSA on PTSD, and direct effects of shame on PTSD and depression symptoms. Shame explained the associations of antibisexual stigma, negative reactions, and CSA with PTSD symptoms, depression symptoms, and hazardous drinking. Shame may explain why stigmatizing experiences related to bisexual identity, sexual violence, and CSA history relate to distress among bisexual women. Shame is an important treatment target among bisexual survivors of SV.

This paper examines accuracy, acceptability, and respondent burden of integrated screening to facilitate tailored sexual assault (SA) prevention program delivery in a basic military training (BMT) environment. Trainees (n = 5,951) received tailored prevention content based on self-reported sex, sexual orientation, prior SA victimization and perpetration, and past-month post-traumatic stress symptoms. Bivariate analyses examined trainee-reported screener accuracy, acceptability, and burden, including differences by tailoring-targeted subgroups (e.g. men/women). Overall accuracy and acceptability were high (>90%) despite significant subgroup variability. Screening time averaged 10.55 (SD = 1.95) minutes; individuals with prior SA took longer. Missingness increased linearly throughout the screener. Integrated screening is an accurate, acceptable way to deploy tailored SA prevention in BMT. Findings inform data-driven screening improvements and novel applications.

We aimed to characterize and conceptually organize multilevel factors associated with the sexual victimization experiences of trans women and trans feminine people to advance violence prevention interventions for health-equity. Between October 2020 and July 2021, we conducted in-depth interviews with 17 expert informants in New York City, which we transcribed, coded, and analyzed. Qualitative insights were derived through an intensive, team-based iterative coding strategy resulting in the development of an exhaustive set of consensus codes which were organized and interpreted in a multi-level structure. Findings revealed a complex constellation of intersecting macro- and micro-structural mechanisms reinforcing sexual violence. Unique characteristics of this violence were characterized hierarchically in terms of: 1) violence forms (e.g. murder, fetishization), 2) perpetrators (e. g. safety-staff; group assault), 3) contexts (e.g. public accommodations), 4) functions (e.g. gender policing), 5) ideological reinforcers (e.g. transphobia, racism), and 6) structural reinforcers (e.g. legislation; linking access to material means of survival to poverty/illness). Results indicate that acute incidents of sexual victimization are "the tip of the iceberg" of the violence impacting trans communities. The community experts we interviewed (e.g. trans women, violence prevention practitioners, social workers) understand chronic functional, ideological, and structural oppression as inextricable from sexual violence. Multi-level determinants of violence therefore constitute essential targets of sexual violence prevention intervention for this population.

The online landscape has shifted since the rise of smartphones and social media in the 2010s and altered the way children use technologies. Along with a reliance on computer-mediated communication (CMC) is the concern of online child sexual exploitation (OCSE). This scoping review provided an updated examination of the prevalence, risk factors, outcomes, and disclosures of OCSE since 2010. Systematic searches were conducted using three databases for studies published between January 2010 and January 2023. Results indicated an alarming prevalence of, and a wide range of risk factors and consequences associated with OCSE worldwide. Many young victims struggled to recognize OCSE as a serious form of abuse. The need to monitor the ever-changing Internet landscape for young users is highlighted.

Sexual abuse within the Catholic Church is a serious social issue and a significant public health problem that has caused extensive harm worldwide. In 2022, an independent commission was established in Spain to investigate sexual abuse within the Church. The commission gathered data from 334 victims (82.3% men, 17.7% women), who were predominantly aged between 55 and 74 years old (62.5%). A majority of victims (71.0%) endured sexual abuse involving physical contact, while 21% reported instances of oral, anal, or vaginal penetration. Over half of the victims (57.5%) reported emotional and behavioral issues, as well as functional problems, problems in relationships, sexuality, and cognition, and attributed these difficulties to the abuse. The majority of participants (79.0%) had disclosed the abuse before the study, with the Church taking action in 45.8% of cases. Approximately 8.4% of victims reported the perpetrator was relocated, while 16.2% described institutional efforts to conceal the abuse. In conclusion, victims of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church in Spain faced consequences that had a significant impact on their lives, exacerbated by lack of societal recognition and a prevalent dynamic of cover-up and concealment by the Church.

The current study examined predictors PTSD and problem drinking using survey data (N = 432 matched pairs) from sexual assault survivors and informal support providers (SPs, e.g. family, friend, partner) to whom they disclosed. Perceptions of helpfulness, relationship satisfaction, social reactions to disclosure of sexual assault, coping strategies, and child sexual abuse (CSA) severity were examined in separate survivor and SP regression models. In the survivor model, White-identified and less educated survivors had more PTSD symptoms than those of other races and with more education, respectively. Greater avoidance coping, perceived SP empathy, and unsupportive acknowledgment (UA) reactions were all related to more PTSD symptoms for survivors. In the SP model, those identifying as White reported more PTSD symptoms than those of other races. SPs reporting greater use of approach and avoidance coping, and more ineffective and empathetic support, reported more PTSD symptoms. Those SPs identifying as men and those with higher educational attainment had fewer PTSD symptoms. SPs reporting more positive social reactions to survivors' disclosure also had fewer PTSD symptoms. For survivors, greater avoidance coping, more PTSD symptoms, and receiving more positive reactions from the SP were each related to increased survivor problem drinking. For SPs, greater relationship satisfaction with the survivor and greater UA social reactions made to survivors were each related to less SP problem drinking. In addition, SPs reporting greater CSA severity, more PTSD symptoms, more avoidance coping, and more perceived empathy and positive social reactions to survivors were each related to increased SP problem drinking.

Amid growing concerns over technology-facilitated sexual violence (TFSV), this study surveyed 943 adults across the United States to investigate its prevalence, demographic risk factors, and emotional consequences. The results reveal an overall victimization rate of 67.9%, with no significant difference between men and women. However, disparities were evident across marginalized groups: LGBQ individuals reported significantly higher rates (84.5%), and Latino/Hispanic respondents experienced elevated victimization compared to other racial/ethnic groups. A substantial portion of TFSV was committed by current or former intimate partners, and many victims reported the experience as emotionally upsetting or traumatic. Importantly, the study identified a correlation between victimization and later perpetration, pointing to a potential cycle of harm. These findings underscore the urgent need for targeted prevention strategies, culturally responsive legal protections, and accessible victim support services. The research also highlights the importance of expanding studies to include diverse populations and to evaluate digital safety interventions.

The aim of this study was to explore lay person perceptions of individuals who commit online child sexual offenses. Online sexual abuse of children encompasses a wide range of offenses. Shame due to stigma and fear of consequences are significant barriers to help-seeking among individuals who commit online child sexual abuse. Lay perceptions of individuals committing online child sexual offenses were explored through an online survey in Norway. Responses (n = 573) to a question asking the respondents to describe the typical online child sexual offender were analyzed through a qualitative content analysis resulting in four categories. The largest category, "The average Joe" represents a view that it could be anybody. The other categories substantiate more stereotypical perceptions: social marginalization, mental health issues, and antisocial personality. Results indicate that the lay perceptions of individuals who commit online child sexual offenses convey perceptual complexity in line with empirical findings and that media portrayal may contribute to nuancing perceptions. Knowledge of these perceptions may facilitate the development of interventions aiming at reducing stereotyping that hinders effective treatment.