This study attempts to empirically validate the fixated-regressed typology utilized in the child sexual abuse literature. The sample consisted of 136 consecutive cases of convicted child molesters tried in Pima County, Arizona over a two-year period (1984-1985) for whom case history, MMPI, pre-sentence reports, and police report data were collected prior to sentencing. Application of the criteria defining fixated versus regressed status yielded a unimodal and continuous distribution of child molesters, rather than the bimodal distribution predicted by theory. In a multiple regression analysis, three independent variables, i.e., whether the victim and offender were related, an offender's prior non-sex-criminal record, and offender age, significantly enhanced the accuracy of predicting an offender's degree of regression. Alternative conceptualizations to the fixated-regressed typology are described, and implications for understanding child molesters are discussed.

The general purpose of this study was to duplicate research conducted by Beverley Joyce Miller Pitts, Ph.D., regarding the newswriting process of practicing journalists. (Future reference regarding this study will be termed the Pitts study.) In an effort to update previous research, this study sought to: review literature published between 1981 and 1987, update research conducted since 1981, support or disprove previous findings as documented in the Pitts study, and provide further research regarding the journalist's newswriting process. The study was conducted separately from previous research; thereby adopting an objective atmosphere in which research and data were obtained. The methodology and procedure of this study were replicated from the Pitts study to ensure consistency in research methods. All analyses, discussions, summaries, conclusions, observations, and recommendations, presented in this study, are based solely on data gathered during the research and presentation phases of this study.Although the Pitts study, 1981, consisted of protocol analysis case studies of three practicing journalists, the study contained herein focuses on the case study of one isolated journalist. As with the Pitts study, this study sought to gather data which describes the overall thought process as executed by a practicing journalist. The primary research tool utilized was protocol analysis. During taped sessions, these verbal protocols required the journalist to "think out loud" while composing the news story.Three protocol case studies were comprised. The first protocol session, the journalist was provided with a fact sheet from which to write. In the second and third protocol sessions, the journalist composed news stories based upon events covered on the daily beat. All three stories were composed on a video display terminal (VDT). The three protocol transcripts, follow-up interviews, reporter's notes, and the completed stories provided the data for analysis. These may be found in the Appendix. The coding scheme used in the Pitts study, which isolated and labeled activities of the newswriting process, was utilized; thus, deciphering the thought process evoked from the journalist when composing newsworthy articles.Journalist Kristi Stone, reporter for the Muncie Star, was selected to participate in this study.Findings indicated that the selection and writing of the lead was the most time-consuming task, that the writer wrote in a patterned sequence, that the writercomposed the story in small units, that goals, planning, and evaluations were short-term in nature, and that the writer created sentences as they were being typed into the VDT. In addition, the writer demonstrated recursiveness in her writing style, and had difficulty in composing stories when the newsgathering element was omitted.A major finding was that the task of writing the lead was the initial step in the writing process and had to be completed before any other writing could take place. The selection of the lead determined the direction of the story; thus, it was the most important act the writer performed. The story was organized as it was written, not planned in advance. The writer planned and wrote one sentence at a time incorporating a series of activities aimed at completing an immediate task. Editing was an important part of the writing process as well as a tool for refining. Memory was an important tool for obtaining information during the writing process. Recall was used for the purposes of remembering information from the newsgathering process, while notes provided the specific details of the incident. The newsgathering task was an integral part of the newswriting process, serving as a catalyst for the story's composition. Difficulty in writing occurred when the newsgathering process was omitted; thus, the newsgathering and newswriting tasks worked in unison and were so closely related they could not easily be separated.The findings documented in this research paper support the previous findings by Pitts conducted in her 1981 port the previous findings by study in that:the lead was the most important taskselection and writing of the lead took place first editing was an integral part of the writing process, not a separate act of refining memory served to recall overall story ideas and informationnotes provided a tool for obtaining specific pieces of informationwriters planned and wrote one sentence at a time by orchestrating a complex set of activities directed at completion of an immediate task.l1Beverly Joyce Miller Pitts, "The Newswriting Process: A Protocl Analysis Case Study of Three Practicing Journalists," Ed.D. Dissertation, Ball State University, pp. 2-3. / Department of Psychological Science

(Finkelhor, 1986; Haugaard & Dickon Reppucci, 1988) have concluded that there is insufficient information on how to treat child sexual abuse (CSA). The reported incidence of CSA has substantially increased, hence, the need for treatment approaches has escalated. The purpose of this study was to provide clinicians who treat CSA with a descriptive account of the methods currently used by art therapists to treat sexually-abused children of differing ages who present with different issues. One hundred and forty-six certified and/or diplomaed art therapists, aged 26 to 66, who had training and experience in CSA treatment were solicited through the national art therapy associations in Canada and the United States. They responded to case-simulation surveys which consisted of a case history, photograph, and self-portrait of a hypothetical sexually abused girl aged 4, 8, or 13 who presented with either the issue of body image distortion or guilt. Open-ended or multiple choice research questions on the art therapist's treatment approach, choice of media, directives, use of time, use of therapeutic interactions, use of debriefing process, opinions on the function of art in the session, and method of evaluation were utilized to obtain a qualitative description of the art therapy approach to working with a child of a certain age presenting with a particular issue. A content analysis of the qualitative data resulted in the identification of thematic categories which described the goals, directives, debriefing process, and the function of art in the session. The responses to the questions on time use and media were analyzed similarly. The frequency of responses for the multiple choice answers and the thematic categories were calculated and then compared across the age and issue variables, in the form of percentages. A comprehensive clinical description of the art therapists' approaches to CSA treatment was obtained for the whole sample, and across age, and issue. The subjects' responses were paraphrased to illustrate these differences for each question. The main findings were: (a) art therapists addressed the main issues of CSA, as described by traditional verbal therapists (Sgroi, 1982), and employed both directive and nondirective styles in their approaches; (b) art therapists were sensitive to the developmental level of the child depicted in the case simulation and adapted their approach to meet the child's needs (i.e., the sessions with younger children were characterized by different media choices, and directives, the therapists spent more time being supportive and nurturing, provided physical contact, snacks, used art-as-therapy, spent less time discussing and more time playing and doing, allowing the child to work out her issues through using her body and the media whereas with the adolescents, art was used as psychotherapy and catharsis more frequently and discussion and debriefing were utilized to help change her thinking about the abuse experience), (c) art therapists responded differently to the body image distortion and guilt case simulations (i.e., activities designed to solicit representations of feelings and of the offender were more frequently reported for the guilt case simulations while self-portraits and safe places were more frequent in the responses to the body image distortion case simulations, and (d) the findings on the function of art in treating CSA replicated the earlier study by Marrion, Landell, and Bradley (1988). This study provided a clinical description of art therapists' approaches to treating CSA. It illustrated the function of the art directives, the use of media, the debriefing process, and the art products themselves. The descriptions of these may aid clinicians in understanding how this sample of art therapists worked with sexually-abused children and may prompt them to undertake training in this discipline as a way broadening their approach to working with sexually-abused children. / Graduate

Child sexual abuse is a serious and widespread problem that has been associated with a variety of short and long term consequences to victims, offenders, families, communities and society at large. In recent years, it has been recognized that up to 40% of sexual offenses occur at the hands of adolescent offenders (between 12-18 years of age). The literature suggests that early childhood familial experiences, specifically attachment deficits and experiencing abuse in childhood may be associated with offending behavior in adolescents. Important developments in attachment theory are reviewed and discussed as they relate to the etiology of offending behavior and resulting consequences. In this study, internal working models and the framework of Bartholomew's Four Category Model of Attachment (1991) are used to categorize participants based on their perceptions of the quality of their relationship with their supervisor (female caregiver) and personal histories of abuse. Study findings demonstrate that attachment style is significantly related to juvenile offender status (Sex Offender, Delinquent, and non-offending Comparison), and a significant number of Juvenile Sex Offenders report having suffered one or more types of childhood abuse. Finally, implications from this investigation are explored in regard to treatment and directions for future research are discussed.

Child sexual abuse (CSA) is a problem of increasing intensity both internationally and within the context of South Africa. While various studies have investigated the post-rape experiences of CSA survivors, few have studied these experiences from a child-centred perspective. The current study thus seeks to explore the personal views of children and their ways of seeing the world in relation to their helpful and harmful experiences in the aftermath of disclosure. The sample was taken from an NGO, located on the south coast of KwaZulu-Natal, which deals specifically with issues affecting abused children. The sample consisted of 20 child rape survivors, between the ages of 5 and 17. Qualitative interviews were conducted in isiZulu by a trained Counselling Psychologist, who served the role of both interviewer and counsellor. Interview transcripts were translated into English and analyzed thematically. Data were organized within an ecosystemic framework in an attempt to conceptualize experiences at various systemic levels. Results indicate varying helpful and harmful experiences with regard to familial, community, institutional, and broader macrosytemic levels of influence. Harmful experiences at the institutional level appeared to have to do with the lack of information shared with the children as to the nature of the proceedings, and what was expected of them, rather than with the post-rape medical examination. Reactions of significant others, in particular the primary caregiver, were found to have a significant impact upon the child’s own feelings towards the sexual abuse. Fear of revictimization, disbelief regarding the minimum punishment afforded to the perpetrator, and feelings of being tricked, deceived, and let down by the perpetrator, were other common themes within the data. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sci.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2010.

Research on child sexual abuse has been largely retrospective and anecdotal in nature, focusing on broad self-report measures of adjustment rather than on more explicit measures of psychopathology. Although there is general agreement that there are harmful effects, there is a lack of consistent empirical evidence. More specific measures, control groups, and larger Ns are needed to gain a clearer understanding. The present study examined Rorschach responses of sexually abused female children as associated with abuse characteristics. Rorschach responses of the sexually abused group were also compared with responses of female clinic controls. None of the a priori hypotheses predicting differences between the groups were supported.

No description available.

Child sexual abuse (CSA) has been recognized as a widespread and devastating problem in our society. Definitional challenges result in a broad range of prevalence rates for CSA varying from 60/0 to 62% for females and 30/0 to 31 % for males (Finkelhor, Araji, Baron, Browne, Peters, & Wyatt, 1986). Although CSA affects our nation's children in epidemic proportions, researchers have found little conclusive evidence regarding CSA precursors. One promising area for exploring the etiology of CSA may be the differential patterns of sexual fantasies in juvenile and adult sex offenders. Abel, Becker, Mittleman, Cunningham-Rathner, Rouleau and Murphy (1987) found that more than 40% of non-familial child molesters reported the development of deviant sexual fantasies prior to sexually offending. Despite variations in offender subgroups, Marshall, Barbaree and Eccles (1991) found that 22% of the offenders experienced deviant fantasies prior to their first sexual offense. Unfortunately, the literature in this area has been quite limited despite its potential. Understanding offender similarities and differences in adult and juvenile populations may be important due to the large proportion of the offender population who begin sexually offending as juveniles and due to the treatment modalities that may be implemented for developmentally different offenders. As many as 500/0 of adult sex offenders have reported sexually deviant behavior beginning in adolescence (Becker, 1988; Ferhenbach, Smith, Monastersky & Deisher, 1986; Marshall, Barbaree, & Eccles, 1991). Juveniles have also been identified as perpetrators in more than half of all cases (Fehrenbach, Smith, Monastersky, & Deisher, 1986). This study investigates the relationship between offenders' sexual fantasies and their use of physical force to sexually offend. This investigation was also designed to examine the similarities and differences between adult and adolescent sexual offenders on these dimensions. Findings reveal an empirical relationship between offenders' fantasies and behaviors in sexual offending. It is anticipated that additional knowledge regarding potential relationships between fantasies and behaviors will assist in assessing and intervening with accused and convicted sexual offenders. Potential implications for clinical assessment and intervention into sexual abuse are discussed as well as the potential for understanding maintenance factors in the continuation of sexual abuse.

The results of this study revealed that despite the childhood sexual abuse event, the victims were able to change their views in a positive direction with regard to the benevolence of the world and people as they marched through life and presumably experienced positive events.

Children have been shown to respond differently to the hurt that they suffer at the hands of others. Some of these responses involve internalised behaviours (i.e., repression of feelings, bodily symptoms, etc.); whilst others hurt manifest as externalised behaviours, such as physical attacks on others. These may include sexualised behaviours. The latter is particularly common amongst (but not restricted to) children who have been sexually abused (The American Psychological Association, 2001). For the purposes of this study a distinction is made between developmentally appropriate sexual behaviour and non normative sexualised behaviour which evoke complaints from and discomfort in those involved in the behaviour. The manifestation of these sexualised behaviours is especially pronounced amongst children in institutional care; and hence, it calls for constructive and effective management by the child care workers who are primarily responsible for their safe care and behaviour modification whilst in the institution. This qualitative study – with an exploratory, descriptive and contextual research design – served to explore how the child care workers’ effective management of such behaviours could be enhanced, so that the emotional wellbeing of both the “offender” and the “perpetrator” of this behaviour can be promoted. A non-probability purposive sampling technique was employed to recruit research participants from three different child and youth care centres in Port Elizabeth. A total number of 10 research participants were involved and data was collected up to the point of data saturation. Thematic content analysis was utilised for the analysis of the data and the necessary strategies were employed to enhance the trustworthiness of the data and to meet all the ethical requirements of the study. The main findings alert to the key requirements of Child and Youth Care Workers; it confirms the occurrence of sexualised behaviours; the urgent need for a consistent approach to the management of such behaviours; and for enhanced team work between the helping professionals in the team. The value of the study is embedded in the contributions it can make to practical interventions for children in institutional care, and to the sparse body of knowledge in this area.