This study investigated the relationships among the sex of respondents, the age of depicted perpetrators, the sex of depicted victims and perpetrators, and various respondent attributions toward hypothetical sexual abuse vignettes, in which a depicted 15-year old victim neither resisted nor encouraged a perpetrator's actions. The study also investigated the relationships of respondent sexual and gender-role attitudes and the aforementioned respondent attributions, Respondents (N = 262, 136 males and 126 females) were each presented with six (3 X 2) written vignettes in which the age of the perpetrator (15-, 25-, and 35-years old) and the sex of the perpetrator (male or female; only heterosexual interactions were used) were manipulated. Results suggested that there were significant respondent sex differences, with female respondents being more pro-victim and perceiving the depicted interactions as more abusive and more representative of child sexual abuse, Further, the age of the perpetrator was a significant factor for male respondent attributions, with more culpability and responsibility being attributed to older perpetrators. For male and female respondents, the age of the perpetrator was a significant factor in the ratings of abusiveness and the vignette's representativeness of , child sexual abuse, with the ratings of vignettes with older perpetrators being perceived as more abusive and more representative of child sexual abuse. The sex of the depicted perpetrator also was a significant factor for male respondent attributions, with more culpability and responsibility being attributed to depicted male perpetrators. For male and female respondents, the sex of the depicted perpetrator was a significant factor in the ratings of abusiveness and the vignette's representativeness of child sexual abuse, with the ratings of vignettes with male perpetrators being perceived as more abusive and more representative of child sexual abuse. Finally, gender-role attitudes and various sexual attitudes did not correlate consistently with respondent attributions of child sexual abuse in these scenarios. These findings emphasize the need to educate the general public about child sexual abuse and unwanted sexual contact involving individuals under the age of consent.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ucf.edu/oai:stars.library.ucf.edu:honorstheses1990-2015-1778 |
| Date | 01 January 2008 |
| Creators | Sherrill, Andrew Michael |
| Publisher | STARS |
| Source Sets | University of Central Florida |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Source | HIM 1990-2015 |
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