Barry R. Burkhart

Long-term psychological correlates of childhood sexual abuse in two samples of college men

Using a retrospective questionnaire approach, the current study explored the relationship between a history of childhood sexual abuse and later psychological and sexual adjustment. Subjects were 582 college men from two different geographic locations: 253 from a midwestern university and 329 from a southeastern university. The definition of child sexual abuse employed in this study was a broad one which included both contact and noncontact experiences. In order to be defined as abusive, however, an age discrepancy between victim and perpetrator was required. Although not so for the southeastern sample, for the midwestern sample a number of small but significant correlations emerged between a history of sexual abuse and psychological adjustment as measured by the SCL-90. In both samples, very few significant correlations emerged between a history of sexual abuse and later sexual adjustment and behavior.

Sexual victimization: is there a vicious cycle?

A review of the literature on sexual abuse suggests that many women are repeatedly victimized. To examine the relationship between child and adult sexual victimization, 282 female undergraduates completed questionnaires describing child and adult incidents of sexual abuse. Personality measures (e.g., assertiveness, dependency, self-esteem, and attributional style) and situational variables (family background, and dating and sexual history) were measured to assess their relationship to victimization. Child victimization did not directly predict adult victimization; however, the number of both child and adult victimizations was related to the number of adult consensual sexual partners. A pattern of repeated adult victimization was identified for a group of victims of adult sexual abuse; however, such multiple victimization was not associated with any of the predicted personality variables. Further investigation of women who have been victimized as children and as adults and of adults who present with repeated victimization was identified as a necessary area for further research.

Disorganized attachment as a diathesis for sexual deviance Developmental experience and the motivation for sexual offending

Recently, researchers and theorists have begun to focus attention on the early attachments and developmental contexts of sexual offenders. Attachment theory provides a unique conceptual perspective from which to derive possible motivation for some sexual offense behavior, as well as explore the inter- and intrapersonal contexts that contribute to deviant sexual behavior. The quality of attachments in childhood and adolescence is well known to impact development of critical self-regulatory functions such as emotional definition and control, cognitive self-definition, and interpersonal expectation. In this paper, in an effort to contribute to an extant etiological model of sexual offending [Trauma, Violence, Abus 1 (2000) 250], attachment disorganization is identified as a marker for severe attachment insecurity, a specific diathesis in the etiology of sexual offending. We hypothesize that individuals with disorganized attachment experiences do not adequately develop and/or fail to adequately internalize self-regulatory skills, and thus may be more likely to rely on externally based means of self-regulation. In particular, sexual offending is identified as one of several possible strategies of externally based intra- and interpersonal control, emerging primarily in adolescence in response to several pressures: a frightening experience of the self, poor interpersonal relationships, childhood experience with adult sexuality, and the biological and social push of puberty.

A Conceptual Analysis of Rape Victimization: Long-Term Effects and Implications for Treatment:

Recent prevalence studies have suggested that 15–22% of women have been raped at some point in their lives, many by close acquaintances, although few victims seek assistance services or professional psychotherapy immediately post-assault. Surveys have revealed that 31–48% of rape victims eventually sought professional psychotherapy, often years after the actual assault. These observations suggest that the primary role of clinicians in the treatment of rape victims is the identification and handling of chronic, post-traumatic responses to a nonrecent experience. However, it is concluded that most of the existing literature on rape treatment addresses only the target symptoms that represent the immediate response to rape. In this article, contemporary theoretical and empirical discussions of stress, cognitive appraisal, cognitive adaptation, and coping are used to conceptualize the long-term impact of rape and the process of resolution. Directions for future research on the clinical treatment of rape are suggested.

Childhood Sexual Victimization among College Men: Definitional and Methodological Issues

Little information exists on the childhood sexual victimization of males as it occurs in nonclinical samples. Employing a broad funnel-type of questionnaire methodology, the current study examined childhood sexual victimization in two samples of college men consisting of 253 and 329 students from a large Midwestern and Southeastern university, respectively. There was general consistency between the two samples in the prevalence and descriptive features of the abuse. However, different definitions of abuse generated markedly different outcomes in the data. Depending on the definition utilized, prevalence rates varied from 4% to 24% of the samples being defined as “abused.” Moreover, the quality of experiences varied by definition. Using less restrictive definitions, the experiences reported by men were distinctively different from those reported in studies of college women or clinical samples of boys. This study identifies methodological and definitional issues as being critical to the study of childhood sexual victimization, particularly among males.

Hidden Child Molestation An Investigation of Adolescent Perpetrators in a Nonclinical Sample

To examine and describe hidden child sexual molestation committed by adolescent males, 582 college men were surveyed via an extensive questionnaire. Three percent (N = 16) of the men reported activity that met the criterion for sexually molesting a younger child. Most of the victimization experiences were initiated by the men (86%), and most involved female victims (67%). Few differences emerged between the molesters and nonmolesters on the family background variables, current adjustment measures, or measures of attitudes conceptually linked to sexually aggressive behavior. Compared to nonmolesters, however, the molesters were more likely to endorse rape myths and were more likely to have been sexually victimized as children.

The relative predictive validity of subtle vs. obvious items on the MMPI depression scale

To assess the relative predictive validity of subtle and obvious items on the MMPI Depression scale, obvious, neutral, and subtle subscales were formed and used to predict several criterion measures of depression; these included the Beck Depression Inventory, the Depression subscale of the Profile of Mood States, and the Pleasant Events Schedule (N = 209). In general, obvious items were good predictors of all criteria, neutral items overlapped considerably with obvious items, and subtle items generally did not contribute uniquely to the prediction of any of the concurrent measures of depression.

Construction and Preliminary Validation of the Auburn Differential Masculinity Inventory

Hypermasculinity has been defined as exaggerated masculinity, including callous attitudes toward women and sex, and the perception of violence as manly and danger as exciting (D. L. Mosher & S. S. Tomkins, 1988). Hypermasculinity is correlated with sexual assault, poor relationships, and poor interpersonal coping. Criticisms of existing measures include biased or objectionable language, outdated phrasing, and forced-choice items. To address these problems, rational and empirically based procedures, including factor analysis, were used to develop the Auburn Differential Masculinity Inventory (ADMI). This 60-item inventory provides a total score plus 5 provisional scales reflecting hypermasculinity, sexual identity, dominance and aggression, conservative masculinity, and devaluation of emotion. The ADMI-60 has demonstrated adequate reliability and validity. Subscale development is ongoing. As such, scale scores should be interpreted cautiously.

Coping Appraisals and Adjustment to Nonstranger Sexual Assault

A sample of 299 female victims of nonstranger sexual assault was used to examine the relationship between appraisals of blame, coping strategies, and current symptomatology. Subjects completed a revised version of the Sexual Experiences Survey, the Coping Strategies Scales, the Symptom Checklist 90-Revised, and an attributional questionnaire designed by Meyer and Taylor (1986) to assess attributions of blame. Participants reporting clinically significant levels of current symptomatology were compared to those reporting nonsignificant levels of symptoms. Symptomatic victims were more likely to engage in characterological and behavioral self-blame. They also made greater use of active coping strategies involving emotional expressiveness, social support seeking, cognitive restructuring, and coping behaviors. Victims of rape were somewhat more likely to blame themselves than were victims of noncoital sexual assaults. Overall, the findings suggest the importance of examining cognitive appraisals and coping strategies in research and intervention with sexual assault victims.

Sexual Assault Determinants of Victim Disclosure

This study was designed to assess the social and attitudinal determinants of victim willingness to define and / or report a sexual assault as a rape to various groups. It was hypothesized that those incidents most closely resembling the social stereotype of rape would be most readily defined as a rape and, therefore, most likely to be reported. One hundred and twelve female undergraduate students were randomly assigned within a 2 x 2 x 2 factoral design to read a one-paragraph description of a situation involving a sexual assault and respond to a questionnaire assessing their belief that the situation was a rape and their willingness to report the event to a friend, a doctor, and/or the police. The situations were varied by having two levels of each of the three factors involved in the social stereotype of rape (prior relationship, degree of violence, and degree of victim responsibility for placing herself in the assault situation). The degree of force used was the most powerful determinant of an assault being defined as rape and of reporting the event to others. Having no prior acquaintance with the assailant also produced more willingness to report the assault to police.