Current MSc student, Megan Hartley, has recently published a study in the Sexual Abuse journal with Ross Bartels. The experimental study was focused on public attitudinal judgments of men who have committed child sexual abuse (CSA), specifically whether the relationship between the child and adult, as well as the degree of relational proximity, affected these judgments.
Hartley, M., & Bartels, R. M. (2022). Public perception of men who have committed intrafamilial and extrafamilial sexual offences against children.Ā Sexual Abuse, 10790632211062188.
Abstract
This study examined whether the attitudinal responses toward child sexual abuse (CSA) differ due to the personās relationship with the victim (intrafamilial vs. extrafamilial) and/or proximity to the victim (close vs. distant). An online sample of 292 participants completed a measure assessing pre-existing attitudes toward people who commit sexual offenses, before being randomly presented with a vignette describing a CSA case committed by a biological father, biological uncle, babysitter, stranger, or stepfather. Participants then rated the perpetratorās level of dangerousness and pedophilic interest, their own feelings of disgust, and their punitive judgments. Controlling for pre-existing attitudes, the extrafamilial cases (stranger and babysitter) were perceived to be more dangerous (large effects; ds > .50) and more pedophilic than the stepfather (large effects;Ā ds > .60). Also, participants reported greater levels of disgust toward the stranger than both the babysitter and uncle (medium effects; ds > .30). The findings demonstrate the need to account for the established heterogeneity of men who commit CSA when studying the publicās attitudinal responses. Methodological limitations and suggestions for future research are also discussed.