title: Undergraduate students' attributions of depicted adult-adolescent and adolescent-adolescent sexual interactions.
abstract: The grayest areas of defining child sexual abuse appear to involve the age and sex of the individuals involved, resulting in a potential for different attributions regarding child sexual abuse across individuals. As a result, this study examines the responses of 262 male and female college student participants after viewing a series of hypothetical sexual abuse vignettes that depicted a 15-year-old victim that neither resisted nor encouraged the advances of a 15-, 25-, or 35-year-old perpetrator's actions. Gender roles and sexual attitudes were examined as potentially important covariates. Using a series of analyses of covariance, female participants gave more pro-victim ratings than male participants, and younger perpetrators were viewed less negatively than older perpetrators. Gender roles and sexual attitudes served as significant covariates. These findings emphasized the need to educate individuals about child sexual abuse and unwanted sexual contact involving individuals under the age of consent.
authors: University of Central Florida, Orlando, 32816, USA.
authors: Andrew
authors: A
authors: Sherrill
authors: Kimberly
authors: K
authors: Renk
authors: Valerie K
authors: VK
authors: Sims
authors: Anne
authors: A
authors: Culp
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002650:Child Abuse, Sexual / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007600:Judgment; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011287:Prejudice; D012737:Sex Factors; D012742:Sex Offenses / Q000523:psychology; D012938:Social Perception; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014495:Universities