Recognition Of Child Sexual Abuse Research Articles

Unlawful Carnal Knowledge in the Irish Free State, 1924–1935

Abstract Despite a growing body of research on sexual violence in Irish history, and on recently reported historic sexual offences, few studies have focused on sex offenders who were prosecuted and convicted contemporaneously in the early decades of the Irish Free State. This article examines hitherto restricted archival files on sixty-five offenders who were convicted of unlawful carnal knowledge under the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885, and, in doing so, constitutes the first comprehensive analysis of convicted sex offenders during the formative years of the independent Irish state. The findings reveal the modus operandi of these perpetrators and that the majority of the victims were exploited by someone who was known to them. The article also challenges the view that there was little recognition of child sexual abuse as a societal problem in the early years of the state and demonstrates that there was an awareness of predatory individuals within Irish communities during this period.

Changing the paradigm: Using strategic communications to promote recognition of child sexual abuse as a preventable public health problem

Child sexual abuse (CSA) is common, severe, and substantively contributes to the global burden of disease through its impact on physical, mental, and behavioral health problems. While CSA is preventable through non-justice system response efforts, the vast majority of resources support criminal justice efforts to identify, prosecute, punish and monitor offenders after CSA has already occurred. Policy makers have not supported CSA prevention efforts in part because the public does not view CSA as a preventable public health problem. Here, we describe a program of research to be conducted to bridge the gaps between expert and public opinion about CSA as a preventable public health problem. We propose such research use a three-step approach to alter the way experts communicate about CSA to increase audiences’ understanding of CSA as preventable. The three steps are: 1) identify consensus expert and public perspectives about CSA and the differences between these perspectives; 2) develop and test communication strategies to align public with expert perspectives; and 3) broadly disseminate validated communication strategies. Through this approach, we seek to develop and disseminate an informed communications strategy that effectively and accurately translates the science of CSA prevention to the public and the media.

Exploration of the Relationship between Severe and Complex Disabilities and Child Sexual Abuse: A Call for Relevant Research

ABSTRACTDespite the awareness that children with severe and complex difficulties experience child sexual abuse (CSA), the development of research in this area is still in its infancy. This call for relevant research seeks to identify the main gaps in knowledge in order to inform future debate, potential research questions, and raise issues for practice. Themes are identified relevant to researchers and practitioners globally. These include the complexity and duality of definition: recognition of CSA; barriers to communication with children and between services; diversity of segregated and inclusive settings; interaction of age and gender; adult and peer abuse in institutions; sexuality and disability; and intrusive care and medical practices. Recommendations for future research and practice in creating safe environments are provided.

Physical symptoms in very young children assessed for sexual abuse: a mixed method analysis from the ASAC study

So far, a recognizable pattern of clinical symptoms for child sexual abuse (CSA), especially in young male children, is lacking. To improve early recognition of CSA, we reviewed physical complaints, physical examination, and tests on sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in confirmed victims (predominantly preschool boys) of CSA from the Amsterdam sexual abuse case (ASAC). We retrospectively analyzed the outcomes of the primary assessment using mixed methods: descriptive analysis of physical complaints, physical exams, and STI tests from medical files and a qualitative analysis on expert’s interpretations of physical complaints and children’s behavior during physical examination. We included 54 confirmed CSA victims, median age 3.2 (0–6) years, 43 boys (80%), and 11 girls (20%). Physical complaints were reported in 50%, of which gastrointestinal and anogenital complaints were most common. None of the children showed CSA-specific genital signs at physical examination. Most prominent finding during physical examination was a deviant behavioral response (anxiety, withdrawal, too outgoing) in 15 children (28%), especially in children who experienced anal/vaginal penetration. Testing for STIs was negative.Conclusion: Physical complaints and physical signs at examinations were non-specific for CSA. Deviant behavioral reactions during physical examination were the most prominent finding. Precise observation of a child’s behavior during physical examination is needed.What is known• Child sexual abuse (CSA) affects many children on both the short and the long term but remains unrecognized in most cases.• So far, there is a lack of studies on symptom patterns of CSA in male, preschool children.What is new• None of the children showed CSA-specific findings at physical and anogenital examination; STIs were not found in the confirmed victims of CSA.• The most prominent finding was the deviant behavioral response of the children examined, especially in children who experienced anal/vaginal penetration; therefore, precise observation of a child’s behavior during physical examination is a crucial part of the evaluation of suspected CSA.

Curriculum Development Around Parenting Strategies to Prevent and Respond to Child Sexual Abuse in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Program Collaboration Between Families Matter! and Global Dialogues

Despite widespread recognition of child sexual abuse as a serious problem in sub-Saharan Africa, few far-reaching programmatic interventions addressing child sexual abuse in this setting are currently available, and those interventions that do exist tend to focus on response rather than prevention. The Families Matter! Program is an evidence-based intervention for parents and caregivers of 9- to 12-year-olds in sub-Saharan African countries which promotes positive parenting practices and effective parent–child communication about sex-related issues. This article describes the enhancement of a new Families Matter! Program session on child sexual abuse, drawing on authentic narratives contributed by young people to the Global Dialogues from Africa youth scriptwriting competitions. Experiences are shared with a view to informing the development of interventions addressing child sexual abuse in sub-Saharan Africa.

The myth of innocence: Sexual scripts and the recognition of child sexual abuse by female perpetrators

Although child sexual abuse has been studied extensively, minimal attention has been paid to sexual abuse by females. This paper explores the prevalence of female sex offending and reveals the paradoxes that exist within the available data. Moreover, it highlights the role of traditional sexual scripts in impeding the official recognition of the problem. Traditional sexual scripts, particularly the perception of females as sexually passive, harmless, and innocent, appear not only to have influenced broader societal views concerning sexuality and sexual abuse but also to have permeated the criminal law, victim reporting practices, and professional responses to female sex offending. The implicit denial of women's potential for sexual aggression within these three domains may ultimately contribute to the underrecognition of the problem in official sources.

On the interpretation of pictures with and without a content of child sexual abuse

Objective: The purposes of the three experiments were to validate the possibility of a picture to evoke the recognition of child sexual abuse, to determine if the picture was anxiety evoking, and to investigate if the content of child sexual abuse would be transferred to a neutral picture. Method: In all three experiments, adult men and women were presented with a drawing intended to depict child sexual abuse, and were requested to interpret the picture. Experiment 1: Before and after the picture presentation, 226 participants were given a test of anxiety. Experiment 2: After the exposure of the child abuse picture, 200 new participants were asked to interpret an innocent child-adult picture. Experiment 3: To complete Experiment 2, 89 new participants were asked to interpret the pictures in the reverse order. Results: Almost three-fourths of the participants saw child sexual abuse in the picture with a sexual threat. Those in Experiment 1 who saw the picture as child sexual abuse or as a problematic child-adult situation without sexual implications reported a significant increase of anxiety level. None in Experiment 2 or 3 saw child sexual abuse in the innocent picture. The sex of the abused child was significantly more often interpreted as opposite to one’s own sex. Conclusions: The study indicates some people’s deficient capacity to recognize the message of child sexual abuse in the picture. It seems that certain people can spare themselves anxiety by not registering the child’s precarious situation or not seeing the child as being of their own sex. This has implications for the recognition of child sexual abuse in society. It was also shown that a sexual abuse theme was not transferred from one context to another context, which immediately followed it.

Conflicts in the investigation and treatment of sexually abused children

This paper examines the complex relationship between the process of investigation and the provision of treatment in cases of child sexual abuse. Child sexual abuse is now a well-recognised and documented phenomenon, the deleterious sequelae of which have been studied, initially in survivors presenting in adulthood (Wyatt & Powell, 1989) and (more recently) during childhood (Briere, 1992; Kendall-Tackett et al, 1993). Following the recognition of sexual abuse from the accounts of adult survivors, and in order to reduce the harm caused to sexually abused children by providing earlier protection and treatment, attention began to be directed to the earlier recognition of child sexual abuse, during childhood.

An integrated treatment approach to child sexual abuse in the family

SUMMARY. In responding to the increasing professional recognition of child sexual abuse within the family, this paper, relating data from a clinical sample to epidemiological studies, is the first of a number devoted to experimental approaches being taken to identify and treat this problem. The author goes on to describe the multi‐disciplinary approach taken at the Tavistock Clinic and other treatment centres. The need for close cooperation and coordination of all professionals concerned and for the involvement of all family members in different forms of treatment is particularly emphasised. This paper was given at the 11th International Congress of the International Association for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions, Paris, July 1986

Sexual abuse of children.

Defining sexual contact between adults and children as child abuse has been a relatively recent phenomenon. Historically, such acts have been seen as sins (when defined by the churches of the world), criminal acts (when defined by legal-judicial systems), and sexual deviance (when defined by mental health professionals whose primary focus has been on the adult perpetrators of the acts). To conceptualize adult-child sexual contact as different from, and as more than a sin, a crime, and a sexual deviance requires a reframing of the problem. The impetus for this change, that is, viewing adult-child sexual contact as child abuse, has come from three areas of clinical study: physical child abuse, rape of adult women, and the field of victimology. The leading pediatricians working with battered children were slow to recognize the seriousness and scope of child sexual abuse. This is understandable because usually there are no physical findings of trauma following sexual assault of children. Had it not been for the women’s movement and the establishment of clinics for victims of rape, the recognition of child sexual abuse might have been slower in developing. Even so, it was not until the mid-to-late 1970s that there was significant awareness in the United States of this social problem.