NCJ Number
195596
Journal
Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment Volume: 14 Issue: 3 Dated: July 2002 Pages: 271-280
Date Published
July 2002
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This study compared college students and members of the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers (ATSA) on their beliefs and attitudes concerning perpetrators of child sexual abuse.
Abstract
The student sample was composed of 203 undergraduate students enrolled at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. Of these students, 13.3 percent reported that they had been sexually abused as a child; 33 percent indicated they knew someone who had sexually abused children; and 63 percent reported that they knew someone who was abused as a child. The professional sample consisted of 144 members of ATSA. Over 19 percent of this sample had experienced sexual abuse as a child, and 89 percent knew someone who had sexually abused children; 97 percent knew someone who was abused as a child. Both groups were administered a 44-item inventory that assessed beliefs about an abuser's demographics and attitudes concerning an abuser's cognitions and behaviors. The findings showed that the two groups differed on perceived demographic descriptors for offenders; e.g., compared to ATSA members, students believed perpetrators to be older when they first began offending, to be more educated, and more likely to be gay. The groups also differed on perceptions of offender behaviors; e.g., compared with ATSA members, students believed that the perpetrator was more likely to use force to gain the child's compliance. Also, compared to professionals, students were less likely to believe perpetrators used cognitive distortions and were more likely to believe perpetrators functioned at a lower interpersonal level. Results are discussed in terms of the efforts to educate the public about the characteristics of child sexual abusers. 2 tables and 22 references