The influence of sex of observer and child victim on psychologists' and laypersons'judgements of child sexual abuse

The influence of the sex of the observer and child victim on judgments of child sexual abuse was examined. Subjects were 119 psychologists randomly selected from the National Register of Service Providers in Psychology and 127 University of Connecticut graduates randomly selected from an alumni registry. Subjects were contacted by mail and asked to complete questionnaires describing incidents of sexual contact between a father and his twelve-year-old son or daughter. Dependent measures included subjects' ratings of the appropriateness and degree of abusiveness of the father's actions, and recommendations as to whether the father's actions should be reported to child protective services. Results indicated that father-daughter sexual contact was seen as more abusive, less appropriate, and was more likely to be reported than identical treatment of sons. High levels of agreement between males and females, and significant disagreement between psychologists and laypersons, were also found with respect to the degree of abusiveness of specific actions Females were more likely than males to recommend that the father be reported to child protective services The implications of these results and suggestions for future research are discussed.