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25 J. Child Sexual Abuse 1 (2016)

handle is hein.journals/wcsa25 and id is 1 raw text is: JOURNAL OF CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE 2016, VOL. 25, NO. 1, 1-19 Routledge http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10538712.2016.1111964 Taylor & Francis Group Investigating the Victim Pseudomaturity Effect: How a Victim's Chronological Age and Dress Style Influences Attributions in a Depicted Case of Child Sexual Assault Paul Rogersa, Michelle Loweb, and Katie Reddingtonc aDepartment of Psychology, University of Winchester, Sparkford Road, Winchester, Hampshire, United Kingdom and Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths College, University of London, London, United Kingdom; bDepartment of Psychology, University of Bolton, Bolton, United Kingdom; cSowerby Bridge Neighborhood Policing Team, West Yorkshire Police, Wakefield, United Kingdom ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY Three-hundred and seven members of the UK public read a Received 22 January 2015 hypothetical child sexual abuse case in which the victim's Revised 11 August 2015 chronological age (12 versus 15 years old) and dress style Accepted 13 August 2015 (sexualized versus nonsexualized) were experimentally KEYWORDS manipulated before completing 22 assault severity and blame Age; blame; child sex abuse; attribution items. It was predicted that the 15-year-old and the dress; gender; maturity sexually dressed victim would be blamed more for her own abuse. In addition, males were expected to be more blaming generally, but especially of the older and/or sexually dressed victim. Results were generally in line with predictions, high- lighting the role seemingly controllable victim characteristics play in blaming child sexual abuse victims. Findings are dis- cussed in relation to defensive attributions, gender stereotyp- ing and the newly suggested victim pseudomaturity effect. Criminal justice, victim welfare, and rape myth implications together with methodological issues and ideas for future research work are also considered. The past two decades have seen a growth of academic interest in factors shaping lay perceptions of depicted child sexual abuse (CSA) cases. As with adult rape victims (cf. Pollard, 1992), CSA survivors are often deemed partly to blame for their own victimization, with perpetrators invariably absolved from complete responsibility (e.g., Rogers & Davies, 2007). Because such attitudes are likely to damage a child's long-term recovery from sexual assault (e.g., Broussard & Wagner, 1988), studies of CSA blame have important practical as well as theoretical implications. The current article examines the extent to which three factors-the vic- tim's chronological age, her' style of dress, and respondent gender-shape attributions toward the victim, perpetrator, and nonoffending third parties in a hypothetical CSA case. Focus is given to a female victim who dresses in a CONTACT Paul Rogers, PhD e progersl966@gmail.com (D Department of Psychology, University of Winchester, Sparkford Road, Winchester, Hampshire S022 4NR, UK. Color versions of one or more of the figures in the article can be found online at www.tandfonline.com/WCSA. 0 2016 Taylor & Francis