Exploring the Experiences of Regional and Rural Revictimized Women in a Group Empowerment Program.

Sexual revictimization can have a negative impact on many facets of women's wellbeing, yet limited evidence exists regarding specific interventions that support healing and the reduction of further revictimization. This paper will explore regional and rural women's experience of a group-based empowerment program, the Shark Cage program, in Victoria, Australia. The "Shark Cage" program aims to address revictimization by empowering women and girls to build personal boundaries and assertiveness within the context of gender equality and human rights. Data were collected via participant observations across the 8-week program, in combination with semi-structured interviews with participants (N = 11) pre and post intervention. All participants had access to therapeutic support outside of the program. Findings indicate that the program fostered connections among women with shared experiences of sexual revictimization, reducing feelings of isolation. Participants detailed the benefit of developing and practicing skills in reducing revictimization, such as assertiveness and boundary setting. Program learning and recovery was embedded within a network of embodied emotions, social connections, cultural norms and place-based relations that influenced how participants recovery could be understood, processed and addressed.

What is Known About the Magnitude, Trend, and Risk for Child Sexual Abuse and the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in the United States?

Many nationally representative datasets are available for assessing the magnitude, trend, and risk for child sexual victimization in the United States. Unfortunately, the disaggregation of sexual violence into more specific sex crimes and the reliable measurement of these specific acts are often avoided by researchers due to the methodological limitations of victimization data. For example, previous scholars have successfully measured the strength of the relationship between the commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) and child sexual abuse (CSA) within their respective samples; however, little is known about the extent to which CSEC occurs in the larger U.S. population, irrespective of past CSA. This study presents new analyses of publicly available representative data on the incidence, trend, and risk for CSA and CSEC independent of one another. We find that significantly more is known about CSA than CSEC. In addition, while victims of CSA and CSEC share many risk factors, CSA is far more common than CSEC, and their trends are going in different directions. We find that rates of CSA and CSEC are often derived from data with significant methodological limitations, such as administrative datasets that are limited to only victimizations reported to governmental agencies or representative surveys that measure the incidence/prevalence in one year alone, not repeatedly as required to assess trends. We fill in some of the gaps existing in our analyses with a review of other studies examining CSA and CSEC, as well as discuss future directions in research that researchers and child welfare practitioners should consider.

Race/Ethnicity and Relationship Stereotypes in Child Sex Abuse Cases.

Child sex abuse (CSA) is a specific category of crime for which the presumption of guilt may be particularly high, especially for defendant categories stereotypically associated with the crime. The current study utilized survey methodology to examine the magnitude of the presumption of guilt for CSA, as well as stereotypes associating perpetrator race and relationship to the victim with likelihood of CSA. Participants (N = 220) indicated the percentage of CSA allegations they believed to be true, and rank-ordered racial and relationship categories they believed most likely to commit CSA. Female (77%) and male (71%) participants believed most CSA allegations were true. White men and stepfathers were ranked as the most likely perpetrators compared to Hispanic men, Black men, other male relatives, neighbors, and others. These data suggest that alleged perpetrators of CSA are particularly likely to be perceived negatively, especially if they possess stereotypical racial and relational characteristics.

Psychiatric and Forensic Characteristics of Sex Offenders With Child and With Adult Victims.

This study presents psychiatric and forensic characteristics of people accused of a sexual crime and sent for evaluation. Data were drawn from the only institutional psychiatric forensic assessment center in Croatia, during a 9-year period, from January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2018. There were 72 cases of sex offenses: 37 with child victims and 35 with adult victims. People accused of sex offenses with child victims were more often sexually abused during childhood and treated psychiatrically as inpatients. They used alcohol less often. Sex offenders with child victims were diagnosed with narcissistic and antisocial personality disorder, dementia, and pedophilic disorder. Those with adult victims were diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder, alcohol related disorders and dementia. Due to these differences, the management of these two groups of offenders in both mental health and penal systems should be different.

A Clinical Rationale for Assessing the Impact of Childhood Sexual Abuse on Adjunctive Subcutaneous Esketamine for Treatment-Resistant Depression.

Background: A history of child sexual abuse (CSA) is related to higher suicide rates and poor treatment outcomes in depressed adult patients. Twenty years after the first study investigating the effects of ketamine/esketamine on depression and suicide, there is a lack of data on the CSA effects on this emerging treatment. Here, we assess the impact of CSA on adjunctive subcutaneous (SC) esketamine for treatment-resistant depression (TRD). Methods: A directed acyclic graphic (DAG) was designed to identify clinical confounders between CSA and esketamine predictors of response. The confounders were applied in a statistical model to predict depression symptom trajectory in a sample of 67 TRD outpatients. Results: The patient sample had a relatively high prevalence rate of CSA (35.82%). Positive family history of first-degree relatives with alcohol use disorder and sex were clinical mediators of the effects of esketamine in a CSA adult population. Overall, the presence of at least one CSA event was unrelated to esketamine symptom reduction. Conclusions: Unlike responses to conventional antidepressants and psychotherapy, CSA does not appear to predict poor response to esketamine.

Effectiveness of health education on awareness of child sex abuse among school children.

Introduction: Child sexual abuse (CSA) is a serious and hidden problem in India. Despite being such a huge problem a culture of silence surrounds the subject of CSA. Empowering children to protect themselves and disclose the abuse is the only way to overcome the hidden problem of CSA. Hence the present study was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of health education. Methodology: Health education through interactive power point discussion and video was imparted to 200 girls of class 6th to 12th in Government higher secondary school, Coimbatore. Baseline data was collected using self-administered questionnaire. A week after the base line assessment, health education was delivered in five sessions with forty students per session. Interactive session lasting for 60 minutes using power point and videos were used to educate children. Follow-up data was collected after two months using the same questionnaire. Results: Initially only 23% of girls were aware about child sex abuse, and then, after intervention witnessed significant improvement to 71.5%. Similarly only 19% of girls were aware of various types of child sex abuse prior to intervention, however significant number of girls became aware post intervention. There was significant improvement in proportion of children (94.5%) who agreed that they will report bad touch to someone they trust until that person believes them. Pre-intervention only 31% of children knew as to what to do if sexually abused, this percentage rose significantly after the intervention. There was a significant improvement in knowledge from 49% to 78% post intervention regarding laws to protect children from sexual offences. Almost 90% of children reported that they knew about the child help line number. Conclusion: In this study has proven that health education imparted to girls has improved their knowledge and empowered them to report the events and protect themselves from such incidents.

Media Framing of Larry Nassar and the USA Gymnastics Child Sex Abuse Scandal.

The framing of child sex abuse in media has previously been examined to uncover the potential ways news media could influence public perception about the issue. This mixed methods analysis of the Larry Nassar sex abuse scandal involving USA gymnastics and Michigan State University, grounded in the principles of framing theory, examines the patterns in coverage, as well as the episodic and thematic frames evident in the coverage of the scandal and its victims. Findings fall in line with past research on child sex abuse; framing is done primarily at the episodic level, focusing on the individual responsible, detailed accounts of the abuse of the victims, and isolating the instances of abuse to the specific organizations, while ignoring the broader themes of prevention and societal impacts. Implications for framing, attitudes toward girls and women in sport, and implications for abuse in sport are discussed.

Child Sexual Abuse Attributions Among Undergraduate Psychology Students in Singapore.

Experimental vignettes were used to investigate attributions relating to child sexual abuse with a focus on the degree of blame allocated to the family and to society, factors thought to be particularly relevant in a collectivist society. One hundred and sixty-two undergraduates in Singapore evaluated media reports describing a case of child sexual abuse. A 2 x 2 x 2 between-subjects design manipulated victim sex, perpetrator sex, and victim-perpetrator relationship. Participants rated the vignettes on degree of blame and prevention potential and rated the abusiveness of the case. Individualism and collectivism attitudes of the participants were also measured. While the highest blame ratings were attributed to perpetrators, significantly more blame was attributed to the family and to society than to the victim. The demonstration of the present attributions of blame to family and to society is a timely finding given recent recommendations to broaden approaches to child abuse prevention by moving away from a reliance on school based child protection programs, which leave the onus on the child to prevent and report abuse, toward a public health approach, which is particularly inclusive of parent and community education approaches . Allocation of some blame to victims, in spite of their status as children, while not a unique finding in victimology research, emphasizes the challenges still to be faced in encouraging the reporting of child sexual abuse.

Abuso sexual infantil em laudos psicológicos: as "duas psicologias" / Child sexual abuse in psychological reports: the "two psychologies"

Resumo A psicologia é um dos campos e disciplinas que constituiu e molda a categoria "abuso sexual infantil", tomada no artigo como tipo classificatório construído social e historicamente. O artigo busca analisar esta moldagem em uma prática psicológica, a avaliação realizada no Judiciário e expressa em laudos, a partir de uma pesquisa em processos em Varas de Família e Varas Criminais do Tribunal de Justiça do Estado do Rio de Janeiro. São constatadas, no material pesquisado, duas posturas da psicologia forense, a das Varas de Família, que desloca a categoria com apoio no diagnóstico de alienação parental (ou a conserva, se este diagnóstico não é feito), e a das Varas Criminais, marcada pela exclusão da avaliação do homem acusado e pela ênfase no testemunho de vítimas e acusadores. O homem pode aparecer como um pai vitimado pela alienação parental ou um monstro moralmente desqualificado.

Abstract Psychology is one of the fields and disciplines that constitute and shape the category "child sexual abuse", considered in the article as a classificatory type socially and historically constructed. The article seeks to analyze this molding in a psychological practice, the assessment made in the court system and expressed in psychological reports, researched in a sample of legal proceedings of Family and Criminal Courts in the Court of Justice of the State of Rio de Janeiro (TJERJ) that contain the accusation of child sexual abuse. In our analysis of forensic psychology reports we found two standpoints, one prevalent in the Family jurisdiction, that modifies and reshapes the category based on the diagnosis of parental alienation (if the diagnosis of parental alienation is confirmed it contradicts the abuse accusation, the opposite being also true), and another prevalent in the Criminal jurisdictions, which excludes the accused man from its evaluation and emphasizes the testimony of victims and accusers. Man, thus, appears either as a victimized father by parental alienation or as a morally disqualified monster.

Child Sexual Abuse and HIV-Related Substance Use and Sexual Risk Across the Life Course Among Males and Females.

Child sexual abuse is associated with substance use and sexual risk behaviors during adolescence and adulthood, but no known studies have documented associations across the life course in a nationally representative U.S. SAMPLE: We used the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health to measure associations between child sexual abuse and substance use and sexual risk behaviors during adolescence, young adulthood, and adulthood among males and females (n = 11,820). Approximately 10% of females and 7% of males reported child sexual abuse. Associations with substance use were strongest during adolescence and lessened over time. Increased odds of sexual risk among those with a history of child sexual abuse remained consistent through the life course. Significant gender differences existed for some associations (e.g., adulthood multiple partners: males adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 1.73, 95%CI:1.18, 2.53; females AOR = 1.11, 95%CI:0.79, 1.56). Trauma-informed prevention interventions should address child sexual abuse among both males and females to prevent substance use and sexual risk behavior throughout the life course.

Decoding Pedophilia: Increased Anterior Insula Response to Infant Animal Pictures.

Previous research found increased brain responses of men with sexual interest in children (i.e., pedophiles) not only to pictures of naked children but also to pictures of child faces. This opens the possibly that pedophilia is linked (in addition to or instead of an aberrant sexual system) to an over-active nurturing system. To test this hypothesis we exposed pedophiles and healthy controls to pictures of infant and adult animals during functional magnetic resonance imaging of the brain. By using pictures of infant animals (instead of human infants), we aimed to elicit nurturing processing without triggering sexual processing. We hypothesized that elevated brain responses to nurturing stimuli will be found - in addition to other brain areas - in the anterior insula of pedophiles because this area was repeatedly found to be activated when adults see pictures of babies. Behavioral ratings confirmed that pictures of infant or adult animals were not perceived as sexually arousing neither by the pedophilic participants nor by the heathy controls. Statistical analysis was applied to the whole brain as well as to the anterior insula as region of interest. Only in pedophiles did infants relative to adult animals increase brain activity in the anterior insula, supplementary motor cortex, and dorsolateral prefrontal areas. Within-group analysis revealed an increased brain response to infant animals in the left anterior insular cortex of the pedophilic participants. Currently, pedophilia is considered the consequence of disturbed sexual or executive brain processing, but details are far from known. The present findings raise the question whether there is also an over-responsive nurturing system in pedophilia.

Investigating the Victim Pseudomaturity Effect: How a Victim's Chronological Age and Dress Style Influences Attributions in a Depicted Case of Child Sexual Assault.

Three-hundred and seven members of the UK public read a hypothetical child sexual abuse case in which the victim's chronological age (12 versus 15 years old) and dress style (sexualized versus nonsexualized) were experimentally manipulated before completing 22 assault severity and blame attribution items. It was predicted that the 15-year-old and the sexually dressed victim would be blamed more for her own abuse. In addition, males were expected to be more blaming generally, but especially of the older and/or sexually dressed victim. Results were generally in line with predictions, highlighting the role seemingly controllable victim characteristics play in blaming child sexual abuse victims. Findings are discussed in relation to defensive attributions, gender stereotyping and the newly suggested victim pseudomaturity effect. Criminal justice, victim welfare, and rape myth implications together with methodological issues and ideas for future research work are also considered.