>>>

[Start of Abstract:]

This study examined the ways in which human sexuality textbooks (HSTs) covered the psychological correlates of adult-nonadult sex. 14 HSTs, containing correlates, consequences, or effects of adult-nonadult sex were coded by 5 coders. 13 Items were developed for the coders, such as: use of clinical/legal samples, range of reactions, sex differences, generalizability, and causal attributions. Results show that 9 HSTs presented highly biased information, 3 were moderately biased, and 2 were unbiased. Bias in reporting correlates was indicated by an over reliance on findings from clinical and legal samples, exaggerated reports of the extent and typical intensity of harm, failure to separate incestuous from non-incestuous experiences, failure to separate male and female experiences and reactions, and inappropriate generalizations and causal attributions. Over reliance on using reports from clinical and legal samples resulted in many of the other biases.

(PsycINFO Database Copyright 1996 American Psychological Assn, all rights reserved).

[end of abstract]

>>

[Start of Abstract:]

Ongoing concern about effects of sexually explicit materials includes the role of such material in sex offenses. Issues include sex offenders' experiences with pornography and the link between pornography and sex crime rates. Review of the literature shows that sex offenders typically do not have earlier or more unusual exposure to pornography in childhood or adolescence, compared to non-offenders. However, a minority of offenders reports current use of pornography in their offenses. Rape rates are not consistently associated with pornography circulation, and the relationships found are ambiguous.

Findings are consistent with a social learning view of pornography, but not with the view that sexually explicit materials in general contribute directly to sex crimes. The effort to reduce sex offenses should focus on types of experiences and backgrounds applicable to a larger number of offenders.

(PsycINFO Database Copyright 1997 American Psychological Assn, all rightsreserved).

[End of abstract]

>>>

[Start of Abstract:]

Examined self-evaluations of childhood and adolescent sexual experiences as positive, mixed, or negative, and the relationship of these evaluations to adult sexual attitudes and adjustment. 141 Undergraduates completed measures of sexual attitudes, sexual satisfaction, and sexual history (e.g., Sexual History Questionnaire, Sexual Opinion Survey, Sexual Attitudes for Self and Others Questionnaire, and Sexual Satisfaction Inventory).

Results show that Subjects who positively evaluated their early sexual experiences were associated with greater erotophilia, more acceptance of various sexual behaviors for self and others, greater sexual satisfaction, and greater acceptance of sexual behaviors at younger ages. Findings emphasize the importance of self-evaluation of one's sexual experiences to understand the relationship to one's later sexuality.

(PsycINFO Database Copyright 1997 American Psychological Assn, all rights reserved).

[end of abstract]

>>>

Available from the IPCE documentation service as Doc. Nr 97-116. See also the review in KOINOS Magazine 17, 1998, pp. 5-8.

[Start of Abstract:]

Researchers have generally neglected sexual experiences of boys with adults, assumed them to be the same as those of girls, or tried to understand them by referring to clinical research while ignoring non-clinical research. A review of non-clinical research allows a more complete understanding of boys' sexual experiences with adults and the outcomes and correlates of those experiences.

Research with non-clinical samples reveals a broad range of reactions, with most reactions being either neutral or positive. Clinical samples reveal a narrower, primarily negative, set of reactions. Comparison of the reactions of boys and girls shows that reactions and outcomes for boys are more likely to be neutral or positive. Moderator variables, including presence of force, perceptions of consent, and relationship to the adult, also relate to outcomes. Incestuous contacts and those involving force or threats are most likely to be negative. Problems in this field of research include broad and vague definitions of "abuse" and conflation of value judgments with harm.

Effects of boys' early sexual experiences with older persons in general cannot be accurately inferred from clinical research alone or from girls' experiences.

(PsycINFO Database Copyright 1997 American Psychological Assn, all rights reserved).

[End of abstract]

>>>

This abstract is from the conference paper, which accompanied the talk of the same name presented at the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality (SSSS) Eastern Region meeting, April 18, 1997. This talk and paper include only some of the findings of the research. Fuller descriptions, additional findings, and more extensive analyses, discussion, and background can be found in the [later] published articles by Rind & Tromovitch [1997, see below], and in Rind, Tromovitch, & Bauserman [1998, see below].

[Start of Abstract:]

Child sexual abuse (CSA) is viewed by the lay public, and by many professionals, as one of the most psychologically damaging events that a child or adolescent can experience. Opinions expressed by many professionals imply that CSA possesses at least four fundamental qualities or properties:

1. It causes harm,

2. This harm occurs prevalently among people who have had experiences classifiable as CSA,

3. This harm is typically intense, and

4. CSA is at least as harmful an experience for males as it is for females.

The current paper examines these implied properties by reviewing the results of 54 college [research] samples and 10 national probability samples (5 male and 5 female) which provide data relevant to psychological correlates of CSA. To minimize confirmation and sampling biases, 100% sampling of studies was attempted and quantitative analyses (i.e., meta-analyses) were conducted.

Meta-analyses of 18 symptom domains revealed that students with experiences classifiable as CSA are, on average, slightly less well adjusted than control subjects across all 18 symptom domains. Meta-analyses of a composite effect based on national probability samples showed an identical effect size to that found in the college data. Further analyses, however, indicate that this poorer adjustment cannot be causatively attributed to the CSA experiences because of the reliable presence of confounding variables (in the general domain of *family environment*), which, when controlled for, rendered the majority of CSA-symptom relations non-significant in studies where statistical control could be applied.

Examination of the reported reactions to the CSA experiences also revealed significant gender differences, with males reporting significantly more positive experiences than females. It is further noted that the socio-legal definitions of CSA that are currently used in CSA research are so broad as to be capturing very different experiences under the same rubric.

It is concluded that:

1. College student data on CSA-symptom relations is generalizable to the population at large,

2. The assumptions of causality of harm, prevalence of harm, and intensity of effects are false (at least in college student and national samples), and

3. Reactions to experiences included under the wide scope of the currently used socio-legal definitions of CSA differ greatly between males and females.

The findings from this report contradict prevalently held assumptions about CSA -- assumptions that may bias not only the lay public, but also researchers studying and reporting on activities classifiable as CSA.

[End of Abstract]

>>

[Start of Abstract]

In response to the availability of a growing literature on the psychological correlates of child sexual abuse (CSA), numerous researchers have conducted literature reviews of these correlates. These reviewers have generally reported that CSA is associated with a wide variety of adjustment problems, and many have additionally implied or concluded that, in the population of persons with CSA experience,

1. CSA causes psychological harm,

2. this harm is pervasive,

3. this harm is intense, and

4. boys and girls experience CSA equivalently.

However, with few exceptions, these reviewers have included in their reviews mostly studies using clinical and legal samples; these samples cannot be assumed to be representative of the general population. To evaluate the implications and conclusions of these reviewers, we conducted a literature review of seven studies using national probability samples, which are more appropriate for making population inferences.

We found that, contrary to the implications and conclusions contained in previous literature reviews that were focused on biased samples, in the general population, CSA is not associated with pervasive harm and that harm, when it occurs, is not typically intense. Further, CSA experiences for males and females are not equivalent; a substantially lower proportion of males reports negative effects.

Finally, we found that conclusions about a causal link between CSA and later psychological maladjustment in the general population cannot safely be made because of the reliable presence of confounding variables. We concluded by cautioning that analysis at the population level does not characterize individual cases: When CSA is accompanied by factors such as force and close familial ties, it has the potential to produce significant harm.

Our goal in the current study was to examine whether, in the population of persons with a history of CSA, this experience causes pervasive, intense psychological harm for both genders. Most previous literature reviews have favored this viewpoint. However, their conclusions have generally been based on clinical and legal samples, which are not representative of the general population. To address this viewpoint, we examined studies that used national probability samples, because these samples provide the best available estimate of population characteristics. Our review does not support the prevailing viewpoint. The self-reported effects data imply that only a small proportion of persons with CSA experiences is permanently harmed and that a substantially greater proportion of females than males perceives harm from these experiences. Results from the psychological adjustment measures imply that although CSA is related to poorer adjustment in the general population, the magnitude of this relation is small. Further, data on confounding variables imply that this small relation cannot safely be assumed to reflect causal effects of CSA.

Browne and Finkelhor (1986, page 178) cautioned "advocates not [to] exaggerate or overstate the intensity or inevitability of [CSA] consequences," because such exaggeration has iatrogenic potential. Despite this caution, child abuse researchers have tended to depict CSA as a "special destroyer of adult mental health" (Seligman, 1994, p. 232). McMillen, Zuravin, and Rideout (1995, p. 1037) recently commented that the "experience of child sexual abuse is a traumatic event for which there may be few peers." Results of analyses of the national samples show that such characterizations are exaggerated at the population level. This exaggeration may stem from our culture's tendency to equate wrongfulness with harmfulness in sexual matters (Money, 1979). CSA is violative of norms and laws in our culture; these facts, however, do not imply its harmfulness in a scientific or psychological sense (Kilpatrick, 1987). It is important to add to this discussion of exaggeration that understatement is also problematic. CSA is potentially harmful for young persons because of their vulnerability to being misused. The current findings should not be interpreted by lay persons as condoning abusive behavior.

Finally, analysis at the population level may obscure characteristics of particular segments of the population. In the current review, the effect size estimate of the relation between CSA and adjustment, which was of low magnitude, cannot be interpreted as applicable to every case. When CSA is accompanied by particular dispositional and situational factors, including variables such as temperamental vulnerability, the use of force, or the presence of close familial ties between participants, then CSA might produce intense harm; on the other hand, if temperamental factors are favorable, if the child or adolescent perceives his or her participation to have been willing, or if the sexual experience is essentially trivial or transient, then harm may be absent (Constantine, 1981). Combining the former and later types of experiences into one category labeled CSA is problematic, because both negative and neutral effects can become obscured. By moving beyond sociolegal definitions of CSA and employing strictly scientific definitions (cf. Ames & Houston, 1990, Rind & Bauserman, 1993), researchers can better describe psychological correlates of the heterogeneous collection of experiences currently labeled as CSA.

[End of summary]

[Start of abstract]

To evaluate the implications and conclusions of literature reviews (e.g., J. H. Beitchman et al, 1991) on psychological correlates of child sexual abuse (CSA) that have relied on studies using clinical and legal samples, the authors conducted a literature review/meta-analysis of 7 studies using national probability samples. Contrary to previous conclusions, it was found that, in the general population, CSA is not associated with pervasive harm, and that harm, when it occurs, is not typically intense. CSA experiences for males and females are not equivalent; a substantially lower proportion of males reported negative effects. The authors also found that conclusions about a causal link between CSA and later psychological maladjustment in the general population cannot be made safely because of the reliable presence of confounding variables.

(Copyright 1998 American Psychological Assn, all rights reserved).

[End of Abstract]

>>>

[Start of Abstract:]

Many lay persons and professionals believe that child sexual abuse (CSA) causes intense harm, regardless of gender, pervasively in the general population. The authors examined this belief by reviewing 59 studies based on college samples. Meta-analyses revealed that students with CSA were, on average, slightly less well adjusted than controls. However, this poorer adjustment could not be attributed to CSA because family environment (FE) was consistently confounded with CSA, FE explained considerably more adjustment variance than CSA, and CSA-adjustment relations generally became non-significant when studies controlled for FE. Self-reported reactions to and effects from CSA indicated that negative effects were neither pervasive nor typically intense, and that men reacted much less negatively than women. The college data were completely consistent with data from national samples. Basic beliefs about CSA in the general population were not supported.

((c) 1998 APA/PsycINFO, all rights reserved)

[End of abstract]

Summary and Conclusion [from the original article]:

Beliefs about CSA in American culture center on the viewpoint that CSA by nature is such a powerfully negative force that

1. it is likely to cause harm,

2. most children or adolescents who experience it will be affected,

3. this harm will typically be severe or intense, and

4. CSA will have an equivalently negative impact on both boys and girls.

Despite this widespread belief, the empirical evidence from college and national samples suggests a more cautious opinion.

Results of the present review do not support these assumed properties; CSA does not cause intense harm on a pervasive basis regardless of gender in the college population. The finding that college samples closely parallel national samples with regard to prevalence of CSA, types of experiences, self-perceived effects, and CSA-symptom relations strengthens the conclusion that CSA is not a propertied phenomenon and supports Constantine's (1981) conclusion that CSA has no in-built or inevitable outcome or set of emotional reactions.

An important reason why the assumed properties of CSA failed to withstand empirical scrutiny in the current review is that the construct of CSA, as commonly conceptualized by researchers, is of questionable scientific validity. Over-inclusive definitions of abuse that encompass both willing sexual experiences accompanied by positive reactions and coerced sexual experiences with negative reactions produce poor predictive validity. To achieve better scientific validity, a more thoughtful approach is needed by researchers when labeling and categorizing events that have heretofore been defined socio-legally as CSA (Fishman, 1991, Kilpatrick, 1987, Okami, 1994, Rind & Bauserman, 1993).

One possible approach to a scientific definition, consistent with the findings in the current review and with suggestions offered by Constantine (1981), is to focus on the young person's perception of his or her willingness to participate and his or her reactions to the experience. A willing encounter with positive reactions would be labeled simply adult-child sex, a value-neutral term. If a young person felt that he or she did not freely participate in the encounter and if he or she experienced negative reactions to it, then *child sexual abuse*, a term that implies harm to the individual, would be valid.

Moreover, the term "child" should be restricted to non-adolescent children (Ames & Houston, 1990). Adolescents are different from children in that they are more likely to have sexual interests, to know whether they want a particular sexual encounter, and to resist an encounter that they do not want.

Furthermore, unlike adult-child sex, adult-adolescent sex has been commonplace cross-culturally and historically, often in socially sanctioned forms, and may fall with the "normal" range of human and sexual behaviors (Bullough, 1990; Greenberg, 1988; Okami, 1994). A willing encounter between an adolescent and an adult with positive reactions on the part of the adolescent would then be labeled scientifically as "adult-adolescent sex", while an unwanted encounter with negative reactions would be labeled adolescent sexual abuse. By drawing these distinctions, researchers are likely to achieve a more scientifically valid understanding of the nature, causes, and consequences of the heterogeneous collection of behaviors heretofore labeled CSA.

... The current findings [these meta-analyses] are relevant to moral and legal positions only to the extent that these positions are based on the presumption of psychological harm.

Finally, it is important to consider implications of the current review for moral and legal positions on CSA. If it is true that wrongfulness in sexual matters does not imply harmfulness (Money, 1979), then it is also true that lack of harmfulness does not imply lack of wrongfulness. Moral codes of a society with respect to sexual behavior need not be, and often have not been, based on considerations of psychological harmfulness or health (cf. Finkelhor, 1984). Similarly, legal codes may be, and have often been, unconnected to such considerations. (Kinsey et al. 1948). In this sense, the findings of the current review do not imply that moral or legal definitions of or views on behaviors currently classified as CSA should be abandoned or even altered. The current findings are relevant to moral and legal positions only to the extent that these positions are based on the presumption of psychological harm.

[End of *Summary and Conclusion* from the original article]

>>>

[Start of the Abstract]

Consistent with lay and professional views, Masters, Johnson, and Kolodny (1985), in an early edition of their human sexuality textbook, presented man-man sex as normal and acceptable but man-boy sex as pathological and unacceptable. Despite drawing these moral distinctions, they used a series of examples of socially sanctioned man-boy sex in other cultures to provide perspective on Western man-man sex, suggesting its normalcy and potential to be socially accepted. They ignored these same examples when discussing Western man-boy sex. This paper examines the biased use of cross-cultural and historical data on homosexuality in a sample of more recent human sexuality textbooks (n = 18).

A brief review of male homosexuality in other times and places is presented, which shows the prevalence of man-boy sex, but the rarity of the Western man-man pattern, cross culturally and historically. This finding further questions the practice of using man-boy examples for Western man-man, but not man-boy, sex. Seventeen of the textbooks in the current sample exhibited the same biases found in the earlier Masters et al. textbook. Only one used man-boy examples in other societies for perspective on Western man-boy sex. It is argued that these biases hinder rather than advance the objectivity that can result from the proper use of cross-cultural and historical perspective.

[End of abstract at the start of the article]

[Additional selections from this article specifically relating to attacks on Dr. Theo Sandfort's research in 1983.]

Master, Johnson, and Kolodny (1985) drew sharp moral distinctions between man-man sex and man-boy sex in an early edition of their textbook *Human Sexulaity*. ... In a lengthy discussion [in their textbook] entitled "Is There a Positive Side to Pedophilia?" Masters et al. critiqued an interview study conducted by Sandfort ("Pedophile relationships in the Netherlands: Alternative lifestyle for Children? *Alternative Lifestyles*, 1983, vol. 5, pp. 164-183) on a sample of 25 Dutch boys aged 10 to 16 involved in ongoing sexual relationships with men.

Sandfort reported that the boys experienced their relationships, including the sexual aspects, predominantly in positive terms, that evidence of exploitation or misuse was absent, and that the boys tended to see the pedophile as a teacher, as someone they could talk to easily and with whom they could discuss their problems.

... Masters et al. Argued that the study was methodologically flawed and speculated that possibly "the boys were so intimidated by their pedophile that they were afraid to say anything against him" (p. 451). They discounted Sandfort's conclusion that the relationships were positive, arguing that man-boy relationships are "inherently abusive and exploitive" and are always negative. They asserted that they were opposed to these relationships no matter how beneficial either party claimed them to be. ...

Masters et al. (1985) included in their textbook nine historical and cross-cultural examples of societies approving of man-male sex to provide perspective on homosexuality. All nine were relevant to the man-boy type but only two were relevant to the man-man type. Given their unqualified condemnation of man-boy sex in our society, it was inconsistent to use predominately man-boy examples from other times and places to inform the issue of man-man sex in our society. ...

Despite including nine historical and cross-cultural examples that were all relevant to man-boy sex, Masters et al. (1985) did not use any of them to provide perspective when discussing man-boy sex in our culture. ... These examples could have informed their critique of Sandfort's (1983) study.

Masters et al. speculated that the boys in this study were too intimidated to say anything against their pedophile and that their experiences were all negative. Primary source material from the cross-cultural examples appearing elsewhere in their textbook, however, questions such speculations. ....

Such findings, had they been discussed in relation to Sandfort's study, could have substantially informed any speculations offered. Additionally, the ancient Greek form of man-boy sex discussed by Masters et al. and Gebhard (1985), with its functions of pedagogy and guidance, could have informed Sandfort's report that the boys saw their pedophile as a teacher and as one with whom they could discuss their problems.

These omissions were errors because their use could have made Sandfort's (1983) report, so much at odds with current Western beliefs, more intelligible. ...

All 18 textbooks [studied in this research] drew moral and conceptual distinctions between man-man sex and man-boy sex in our society. The former, labeled homosexuality, was presented as normal and acceptable. The latter, labeled pedophilia, was presented as pathological and harmful and was discussed along with other topics such as rape, incest, and man-girl sex.

Analyses of 18 human sexuality textbooks revealed pervasive bias. ... all textbooks in the current sample approved of man-man sex and reproved man-boy sex. Despite this, they all used cross-cultural and/or historical examples of the latter to provide perspective on the former. Only one of the 18 textbooks used these man-boy examples to provide perspective on Western man-boy sex. These biases obfuscate the nature of male-male sex....

The fallout from this bias is that students, who rely on the textbooks as authoritative sources of scientific information, are not being challenged to understand the various forms of man-male sex in a scientifically objective fashion.

[End of additional selections]