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MOTHER AND FATHER BLAMING IN CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE CASES

Date

2024-03-28

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

ORCID

Type

Thesis

Degree Level

Doctoral

Abstract

Previous research has demonstrated that nonoffending mothers are held at fault when their child is sexually abused. This fault is directly linked to negative consequences for the mothers including depression, clinical levels of stress, PTSD symptoms, and a decrease in reporting of child sexual abuse along with a reduction in help-seeking behavior. However, limited research on the role of fathers in child sexual abuse exists and what does exist is marked by methodological limitations. Given this impact on mothers and that contemporary homes are seeing more fathers staying at home and participating in child care, understanding the role of fathers in CSA and potential blame attributions toward fathers is an important area of research. With the use of focus groups, this dissertation consists of two qualitative studies that examined the role of parents in the home and parenting blaming attitudes in CSA cases. Study 1 examined two main research questions: (1) How is the idea of a “good” father constructed as compared to the more commonly researched mother? (2) What is the role of non-offending fathers in CSA? Study 2 expanded on the results of Study 1 by first replicating the results with the inclusion of a vignette to answer the following two questions: (1) How might the use of vignettes (vs. no vignettes) be influencing participants' responses? (2) How does fault for CSA attributed to non-offending mothers and non-offending fathers compare? Qualitative reflexive thematic analysis of participant responses for each study detailed the similarities and differences between the role of mothers and fathers in the home and how these roles impact blame attributions in CSA cases toward each parent. By understanding parent blaming and the reasons behind parent blaming attributions, future research can work to improve these attitudes.

Description

Keywords

Father Blame, Parent Blame, Child Sexual Abuse

Citation

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

Department

Psychology

Program

Psychology

Part Of

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DOI

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