NCJ Number
137771
Journal
Child Abuse and Neglect Volume: 16 Issue: 3 Dated: (1992) Pages: 359-368
Date Published
1992
Length
10 pages
Annotation
A survey on professional responses to child sexual abuse was completed by police, child welfare, and community mental health workers in a large, rural geographic area in Canada.
Abstract
The results were used to create an empirical scale comprised of three orthogonal factors, each with acceptable levels of internal consistency. They included beliefs regarding the extensiveness and seriousness of child sexual abuse, treatment versus punishment priority, and view regarding identity of those who perpetuate child sexual abuse. The results were consistent with prior research, showing that women scored significantly higher on all three subscales. The findings differentiated police from the other two groups of professionals, but this difference was moderated when results were controlled for gender. Police officers tended to think that punishment had a priority in curtailing child sexual abuse and that perpetrators came from deviant sectors of the population. There was a similarity in view between the three groups regarding those aspects of child sexual abuse that related to misinformation and stereotyped perceptions. 4 tables and 10 references