The effect of emotional expression during the disclosure of sexual abuse on the perceived credibility of the CSA victims

This study investigated whether interpersonal rejection sensitivity serves a mediating role between childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and three long-term psychological correlates of CSA in adult female survivors: depressive symptoms, anger suppression, and attenuated emotional expression. Interpersonal rejection sensitivity has been shown to be a risk factor for the development of depression and is elevated in CSA survivors. Similarly, attenuated emotional expression, particularly anger, has been related to adjustment difficulties in CSA survivors. Participants in this study were 355 female undergraduates, 34 ofwhomreported a history of CSA. Results demonstrated that interpersonal rejection sensitivity mediates the relationship between CSA and later depressive symptoms. Interpersonal rejection sensitivity partially mediated the relationship between CSA and anger suppression; however, it did not mediate the relationship between CSA and attenuated emotional expression. These results are examined within the context of the current literature on adult CSA survivors and their implications are discussed.

Download Full-text

Perceived Credibility of Children’s Sexual Abuse Allegations: Effects of Gender and Sexual Attitudes

Violence and Victims ◽

10.1891/0886-6708.7.2.147 ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 7 (2) ◽

pp. 147-155 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

William T. O’Donohue ◽

Ann N. Elliott ◽

Mona Nickerson ◽

Susan Valentine

Keyword(s):

Sexual Abuse ◽

Interpersonal Violence ◽

Sexually Abused ◽

Sex Role ◽

College Sample ◽

Perceived Credibility ◽

Sex Role Stereotyping ◽

Significant Relationships ◽

Sexual Beliefs ◽

The Subject

We investigated whether sex role stereotyping, adversarial sexual beliefs, acceptance of interpersonal violence, sex of the subject, characteristics of the child (age, sex), and characteristics of the alleged perpetrator (stranger, father) affect judgments of the credibility of children’s reports that they have been sexually abused. Two hundred and fifty-five college students in a 3 x 2 x 2 factorial arrangement were given the Burt (1980) scales and asked to read a short vignette in which a child alleged that he/she was sexually abused and the accused male denied the abuse. Although the vast majority of subjects indicated that they believed the child was telling the truth, females rated the child’s credibility significantly higher than males F(l, 253) = 6.29, p = .01226. No other significant relationships were found. The results imply that the vast majority of individuals in a college sample tended to believe children’s sexual abuse allegations and that this credibility assessment is not influenced by characteristics of the child or perpetrator examined in this study. Implications of the truncated range of the dependent variable and of the Burt scales are discussed.

Download Full-text

Malpractice & Negligence: State Supreme Courts Limit Therapists’ Duties to Third Parties

The Journal of Law Medicine & Ethics ◽

10.1017/s1073110500012985 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 27 (2) ◽

pp. 204-205

Author(s):

Megan Cleary

Keyword(s):

Sexual Abuse ◽

Child Sexual Abuse ◽

Supreme Court ◽

New Hampshire ◽

Third Parties ◽

State Supreme Courts ◽

Recovered Memories ◽

Supreme Courts ◽

Repressed Memory ◽

University Of Colorado

In recent years, the law in the area of recovered memories in child sexual abuse cases has developed rapidly. See J.K. Murray, “Repression, Memory & Suggestibility: A Call for Limitations on the Admissibility of Repressed Memory Testimony in Abuse Trials,” University of Colorado Law Review, 66 (1995): 477-522, at 479. Three cases have defined the scope of liability to third parties. The cases, decided within six months of each other, all involved lawsuits by third parties against therapists, based on treatment in which the patients recovered memories of sexual abuse. The New Hampshire Supreme Court, in Hungerford v. Jones, 722 A.2d 478 (N.H. 1998), allowed such a claim to survive, while the supreme courts in Iowa, in J.A.H. v. Wadle & Associates, 589 N.W.2d 256 (Iowa 1999), and California, in Eear v. Sills, 82 Cal. Rptr. 281 (1991), rejected lawsuits brought by nonpatients for professional liability.

Download Full-text

Childhood Sexual Abuse: An Evidence Based Perspective

Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing ◽

10.1046/j.1365-2850.2000.287to289.4.x ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 7 (4) ◽

pp. 376-377

Author(s):

Jim Richardson

Keyword(s):

Sexual Abuse ◽

Childhood Sexual Abuse ◽

Evidence Based

Download Full-text

Childhood sexual abuse and dissociation in Japan: A clinical overview from an outpatient clinic standpoint

Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences ◽

10.1046/j.1440-1819.1998.0520s5s151.x ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 52 (S1) ◽

pp. S111-S115 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

SATORU SAITO

Keyword(s):

Sexual Abuse ◽

Childhood Sexual Abuse ◽

Outpatient Clinic ◽

Clinical Overview

Download Full-text

Survey Says Encopresis in Boys Can Be a Sign of Sexual Abuse

Pediatric News ◽

10.1016/s0031-398x(07)70173-x ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 41 (3) ◽

pp. 31

Author(s):

TIMOTHY F. KIRN

Keyword(s):

Sexual Abuse

Download Full-text

Beeinträchtigtes Erkennen emotionaler Gesichtsausdrücke durch psychiatrische Patientinnen bei Alexithymie

Zeitschrift für Psychiatrie Psychologie und Psychotherapie ◽

10.1024/1661-4747/a000135 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 61 (1) ◽

pp. 7-15 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Daniel Dittrich ◽

Gregor Domes ◽

Susi Loebel ◽

Christoph Berger ◽

Carsten Spitzer ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Emotion Recognition ◽

Emotional Expression ◽

Depression Scale ◽

Facial Emotion Recognition ◽

Facial Emotion ◽

Check List ◽

Psychosomatische Erkrankungen ◽

Psychiatrische Patienten ◽

Symptom Check List ◽

Tas 20

Die vorliegende Studie untersucht die Hypothese eines mit Alexithymie assoziierten Defizits beim Erkennen emotionaler Gesichtsaudrücke an einer klinischen Population. Darüber hinaus werden Hypothesen zur Bedeutung spezifischer Emotionsqualitäten sowie zu Gender-Unterschieden getestet. 68 ambulante und stationäre psychiatrische Patienten (44 Frauen und 24 Männer) wurden mit der Toronto-Alexithymie-Skala (TAS-20), der Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Scale (MADRS), der Symptom-Check-List (SCL-90-R) und der Emotional Expression Multimorph Task (EEMT) untersucht. Als Stimuli des Gesichtererkennungsparadigmas dienten Gesichtsausdrücke von Basisemotionen nach Ekman und Friesen, die zu Sequenzen mit sich graduell steigernder Ausdrucksstärke angeordnet waren. Mittels multipler Regressionsanalyse untersuchten wir die Assoziation von TAS-20 Punktzahl und facial emotion recognition (FER). Während sich für die Gesamtstichprobe und den männlichen Stichprobenteil kein signifikanter Zusammenhang zwischen TAS-20-Punktzahl und FER zeigte, sahen wir im weiblichen Stichprobenteil durch die TAS-20 Punktzahl eine signifikante Prädiktion der Gesamtfehlerzahl (β = .38, t = 2.055, p < 0.05) und den Fehlern im Erkennen der Emotionen Wut und Ekel (Wut: β = .40, t = 2.240, p < 0.05, Ekel: β = .41, t = 2.214, p < 0.05). Für wütende Gesichter betrug die Varianzaufklärung durch die TAS-20-Punktzahl 13.3 %, für angeekelte Gesichter 19.7 %. Kein Zusammenhang bestand zwischen der Zeit, nach der die Probanden die emotionalen Sequenzen stoppten, um ihre Bewertung abzugeben (Antwortlatenz) und Alexithymie. Die Ergebnisse der Arbeit unterstützen das Vorliegen eines mit Alexithymie assoziierten Defizits im Erkennen emotionaler Gesichtsausdrücke bei weiblchen Probanden in einer heterogenen, klinischen Stichprobe. Dieses Defizit könnte die Schwierigkeiten Hochalexithymer im Bereich sozialer Interaktionen zumindest teilweise begründen und so eine Prädisposition für psychische sowie psychosomatische Erkrankungen erklären.

Download Full-text

Effectiveness of Programs for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse

European Psychologist ◽

10.1027/1016-9040/a000379 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 25 (1) ◽

pp. 1-15 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Amaia Del Campo ◽

Marisalva Fávero

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Sexual Abuse ◽

New Zealand ◽

Critical Analysis ◽

Prevention Programs ◽

The United States ◽

Sexual Abuse Prevention ◽

Negative Effects ◽

The United Kingdom ◽

Methodological Considerations

Abstract. During the last decades, several studies have been conducted on the effectiveness of sexual abuse prevention programs implemented in different countries. In this article, we present a review of 70 studies (1981–2017) evaluating prevention programs, conducted mostly in the United States and Canada, although with a considerable presence also in other countries, such as New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The results of these studies, in general, are very promising and encourage us to continue this type of intervention, almost unanimously confirming its effectiveness. Prevention programs encourage children and adolescents to report the abuse experienced and they may help to reduce the trauma of sexual abuse if there are victims among the participants. We also found that some evaluations have not considered the possible negative effects of this type of programs in the event that they are applied inappropriately. Finally, we present some methodological considerations as critical analysis to this type of evaluations.

Download Full-text