Childhood Sexual Abuse and Abuse-Specific Attributions of Blame over 6 Years Following Discovery

Autor/inn/en	Feiring, Candice; Cleland, Charles
Titel	Childhood Sexual Abuse and Abuse-Specific Attributions of Blame over 6 Years Following Discovery
Quelle	In: Child Abuse & Neglect: The International Journal, 31 (2007) 11-12, S.1169-1186 (18 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0145-2134
DOI	10.1016/j.chiabu.2007.03.020
Schlagwörter	Sexual Abuse; Rating Scales; Children; Depression (Psychology); Attribution Theory; Attitude Change; Child Abuse; Age Differences; Gender Differences; Symptoms (Individual Disorders); Interviews; Correlation + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Sexueller Missbrauch; Rating-Skala; Child; Kind; Kinder; Attitudinal change; Einstellungsänderung; Abuse of children; Abuse; Children; Kindesmissbrauch; Missbrauch; Age; Difference; Age difference; Altersunterschied; Geschlechterkonflikt; Psychiatrische Symptomatik; Interviewing; Interviewtechnik; Korrelation
Abstract	Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine patterns of change in attributions for childhood sexual abuse (CSA) over a 6-year period and whether such patterns were related to abuse severity, age, gender, and subsequent symptoms of depression and PTSD. Methodology: One-hundred and sixty children, 8-15 years old, were interviewed within 8 weeks of the time the CSA was reported to child protective services (i.e., the time of abuse discovery). Follow-up interviews were conducted 1-year later on 147, and 6 years later on 121 of the original participants. Abuse-specific attributions were obtained using two methods. Participants first responded to an open-ended interview question about why they believed the CSA had happened to them and then completed a rating scale about the extent to which possible attributions for the CSA applied to them (e.g., "Because I was not smart enough"). Results: Over time, perpetrator-blame attributions were consistently more common than self-blame attributions for CSA (using both interview and rating measures). Youth were more likely to report self-blame attributions on the rating measure than the open-ended interview question. The interview method indicated that youth often felt confused about why the abuse happened up to a year following discovery but this response diminished by the third assessment. On average, ratings of perpetrator-blame attribution remained high over time (p less than 0.05), whereas ratings of self-blame decreased (p less than 0.01). Penetration was related to more self-blame (p less than 0.05) and less perpetrator-blame (p less than 0.05), and the use of force was related to more perpetrator-blame. The initial level of self-blame attribution ratings predicted subsequent symptoms of depression (p less than 0.05) and intrusive experiences (p less than 0.05) after controlling for age at abuse discovery, gender, and self-blame attributions for common events. Perpetrator-blame attributions were not related to symptoms. Conclusions: The findings of this study suggest that assessing responses to open-ended interview questions about the perceived reasons for the abuse and ratings of attributions are important for understanding how youth make sense of their abuse. Abuse-specific self-blame attributions at abuse discovery have a persistent effect on internalizing symptoms and should be assessed and the target of treatment as soon as possible after CSA has been reported to the authorities. (Author).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10