To examine further whether CSA is an equivalent experience for males and females, we compared the genders in terms of their self-reported reactions to and effects from CSA. If a basic property of CSA is that it is an equivalent experience for males and females, then it follows that correlates of this experience (e.g., self-perceptions of negativity and harmfulness) should be similar for men and women in the college population. These subjective self-reports were also useful for addressing the assumption that harmful effects are pervasive and intense in the population of persons with a history of CSA.
|
Study | Females (%) |
Males (%) |
||||||
Pos |
Neut |
Neg |
N |
Pos |
Neut |
Neg |
N |
|
Brubaker, 1991 | 22 |
18 |
60 |
50 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
Brubaker, 1994 | 10 |
17 |
73 |
99 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
Condy et al., 1987 | - |
- |
- |
- |
58 |
14a |
28 |
50 |
Finkelhor, 1979 | 7 |
27 |
66 |
119b |
n/a |
n/a |
38 |
23 |
Fischer, 1991 | 5 |
n/a |
n/a |
39 |
28 |
n/a |
n/a |
18 |
Fishman, 1991 | - |
- |
- |
- |
27 |
43 |
30 |
30b |
Fromuth, 1984 | 28 |
12 |
60 |
130b |
- |
- |
- |
- |
Fromuth & Burkhart, 1989 | - |
- |
- |
- |
60 |
28 |
12 |
81 |
Goldman & Goldman, 1988 | 17 |
16 |
68 |
188b |
39 |
32 |
30 |
40b |
Landis, 1956 | 2 |
16 |
82 |
493b |
8 |
39 |
54 |
183b |
Long & Jackson, 1993 | 4 |
28a |
69 |
137 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
O'Neill, 1991 | 10 |
6 |
84 |
83b |
43 |
9 |
48 |
46b |
Schultz & Jones, 1983 | 28 |
19 |
52 |
122b |
69 |
24 |
7 |
67b |
Urquiza, 1989 | - |
- |
- |
- |
39 |
27 |
33 |
51 |
West & Woodhouse, 1993 | - |
- |
- |
- |
45 |
29 |
26 |
58 |
Totals | 11 |
18 |
72 |
1421 |
37 |
29 |
33 |
606 |
Note.
Dashes indicate that participants of a given gender were not included in the study.
n/a indicates information not available.
Totals include only samples for which all 3 reaction-types are given. Total percents are weighted by sample size; total Ns reflect a combination of number of experiences and number of participants. Percentages do not sum exactly to 100 because of rounding.
a Includes mixed reactions.
b Indicates number of experiences. Otherwise, N indicates number of participants.
These results indicate that males and females did not react to CSA at the time it occurred in an equivalent manner.
The partial results reported by Finkelhor (1979) and Fischer (1991) are consistent with the overall results.
Also consistent with these results are those obtained by Haugaard and Emery (1989) , who reported mean retrospectively recalled immediate reactions based on a 7-point scale (1 = very positive; 7 = very negative ). The mean rating for men was 3.38, indicating a neutral to somewhat positive overall reaction, and the mean rating for women was 5.83, indicating an overall negative reaction.
Aside from gender differences, the results show that reactions were highly variable, rather than being exclusively negative.
Assuming that retrospectively recalled immediate reactions are associated with later adjustment - a relation that was found by Long and Jackson (1993) in their study using a college sample - these results imply that resulting harm is not prevalent, at least for men, in the college population.
Seven female and three male samples contained reports of positive, neutral, and negative current reflections (i.e., current feelings) about CSA experiences.
Results were similar to retrospectively recalled immediate reactions, with
In addition to these results, Haugaard and Emery (1989) reported mean current reflections based on a 7-point scale (1 = very positive; 7 = very negative ). The mean rating for men was 3.95, indicating neutral overall current reflections, and the mean rating for women was 5.82, indicating current reflections that were negative overall.
These data further point to the nonequivalence of male and female CSA experiences and imply that harmful effects may not be prevalent.
In eight studies, comprising 11 samples, participants were asked whether their CSA experiences had affected them.
In some studies, effects pertained to participants' adult sex lives or their sexual attitudes ( Condy et al., 1987 ; Fishman, 1991 ; Fritz et al., 1981 ; Landis, 1956 ).
In other studies, questions about effects covered more general topics, for example,
Table 8 provides the results of participants' responses to these questions.
[Page 37]
unweighted mean rate of 8.5%.
Table 8
Study |
Sex |
N |
Type of effect | Response |
Condy et al., 1987 | m |
51 |
Aldult sex life | good = 37%; none = 28%; mixed = 9%; bad = 16% |
Fisher, 1991 | f |
54 |
Stress then or now | no stress then or now = 7%; mean stress now = 3.00 on 1-10 scale |
Fisher, 1991 | m |
24 |
Stress then or now | no stress then or now = 21%; mean stress now = 2.12 on 1-10 |
Fishman, 1991 | m |
30a |
Overall life | positive = 17%; neutral = 57%; negative = 27% |
Current sex life | positive = 24%; neutral = 63%; negative = 13% | |||
Fritz et al., 1981 | f |
42 |
Current sex life | problems = 24% |
Fritz et al., 1981 | m |
20 |
Current sex life | problems = 10% |
Hrabowy, 1987 | f |
107 |
Troubled over it now | minimal or trouble-free = 75%; moderately = 20%; very = 5% |
Landis 1956 | f |
531a |
Time to recover | No shock = 25%; little/no = 17%; days to years = 51%; never = 4% |
Damage to emot. Developm. | none = 66%; temporary = 30%; permanent = 3% | |||
Affect on sex attitudes | none = 70%; temporary = 26%; permanent = 2.2% | |||
Landis, 1956 | m |
215a |
Time to recover | no shock = 68%; little/no = 10%; days to years = 22%; never = 0% |
Damage to emot. Developm. | none = 81%; temporary = 19%; permanent = 0% | |||
Affect on sex attitudes | none = 80%; temporary = 17%; permanent = 0.4% | |||
Nash & West, 1985 | f |
50 |
How long affectes | not at all/ weeks = 52%; months = 16%; year /+ = 10%; still = 22% |
West & Woodhouse, 1993 | m |
67 |
Lasting effects | "only one or two" out of 67 of a sexual nature |
Note
m = male; f = female.
a Indicates number of experiences. Otherwise, N indicates number of subjects.
Self-reports of lasting negative effects of a general nature for men were also uncommon.
The overall picture that emerges from these self-reports is that
These data imply that, in the college population:
These findings are inconsistent with the assumption that CSA has the properties of gender equivalence, prevalence, and intensity in terms of harmful effects.
In three meta-analyses, we examined the size of sex differences in
Studies included in these analyses consisted of both male and female samples.
In two other cases, we combined results from separate studies that used different samples.
Combining appeared to make sense because the same principal researchers were responsible for each set of studies (Fromuth and West, respectively), and the samples were drawn from nearly the same geographic areas, although at different times.
In most cases, comparisons were made between the proportion of men who reported negative reactions or effects and the corresponding proportion of women.
In the case of Haugaard and Emery (1989) , comparisons were based on contrasting mean reaction ratings of men and women. Positive effect sizes indicated that women reported proportionately more negative reactions or effects, or had a higher mean negative response, than males.
Table 9 presents the results of the meta-analyses.
[Page 38]
Table 9
Meta-Analyses for Male versus Female Reactions to
and reactions to Self-Reported Effects from Child Sexual Abuse in College Samples
Measurea | k | N | ru | 95% CI | H |
Reactions then | 10 | 2,965 | .31 | .28 to .34 | 30.70* |
Reactions now | 3 | 424 | .34 | .25 to .42 | 2.13 |
Self-reported effects | 4 | 835 | .22 | .15 to .28 | 1.12 |
Note
k represents the number of effect sizes for a given meta-analysis;
N is the total number of participants in a given meta-analysis;
ru is the unbiased effect size estimate (positive ru indicates more negative reactions pr effects for women;
H is the withi-group homogeneity statistic (chi square).
a Reactions then refers to retrospectively recalled immediate reactions; reactions now refers to current reflexions.
* p < .05 in chi-square test.
In the case of retrospectively recalled immediate reactions, Risin and Koss (1987) and Wisniewski (1990) presented percentages of participants who responded to their CSA experiences with
Each item was measured on a 5-point scale whose values were 1 = not at all ; 2 = a little ; 3 = somewhat ; 4 = quite ; and 5 = very .
We averaged the proportion of men and women across the 5 items who reported anything from "a little" to "very" to compare the proportions of each sex who made negative reports.
The meta-analysis, based on 10 effect sizes that ranged from r = .21 to
.52, yielded a medium unbiased effect size estimate,
The
meta-analysis of current reflections, based on 3 effect sizes ranging from .24 to .38,
also yielded a medium unbiased effect size estimate,
For the self-reported effects, effect sizes were derived as follows:
The
meta-analysis, consisting of four effect sizes ranging from r = .16 to .30, yielded
a small to medium unbiased effect size estimate,
The results of these three meta-analyses imply that, in the college population, men and women with experiences classifiable as CSA feel very differently about them and perceive very different effects from them. The assumption that CSA is an equivalent experience for men and women in the population of persons who experience CSA is unsupported by these results.