TY  - BOOK
AU  - Porch, Tamara Lynne
TI  - Attitudes of New Zealand police and social workers toward child sexual abuse
PY  - 1990///
KW  - FVC
KW  - CULTURAL ISSUES
KW  - DEMOGRAPHICS
KW  - INCEST
KW  - JUSTICE
KW  - NEGLECT
KW  - POLICE
KW  - SOCIAL SERVICES
KW  - SOCIAL WORKERS
KW  - STATISTICS
KW  - THESES
KW  - CHILD ABUSE
KW  - CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE
N1  - Dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of South Dakota; xxu
N2  - This study investigated attitudes of 327 New Zealand Police and social workers towards intrafamilial child sexual abuse. Respondents completed a questionnaire consisting of the Jackson Incest Blame Scale and a series of scenarios that depicted intrafamilial sexual contact with children. A primary objective was to explore the impact of specific variables in the abuse situation on perceptions of seriousness and predictions of long-term emotional trauma. A second objective was the identification of patterns of incest blame attribution. An analysis of variance revealed significant differences in perception of seriousness for all six variables manipulated: age of victim; gender of victim; relationship to perpetrator; chronicity; type of act; and profession of respondent. Significant differences in predictions of long-term emotional trauma were found for five variables: gender of victim; relationship to perpetrator; chronicity; type of act; and profession of respondent. Both police and social workers essentially viewed all situations involving intrafamilial sexual contact with children as serious and likely to be harmful. Numerous interaction effects demonstrate the complexity of the rating task and necessitate the use of caution when interpreting main effects. Exploratory factor analytic procedures were employed in an attempt to clarify the dimensions along which judgerants of seriousness and likelihood of long-term emotional trauma were made. These analyses suggest that subjects discriminated among scenarios primarily on the basis of the type of act and the age of the child. As in previous studies, incest blame was observed to be a multidimensional construct, as evidenced by the emergence of four blame attribution factors: representing offender; societal; situational; and victim factors respectively, in descending order of blame. Varying patterns of agreement and disagreement were identified as a function of the respondent's profession and gender. Implications for practice are discussed, along with recommendations for future research.--AUTHOR'S ABSTRACT
ER  -