A University of Oregon study has found that young men who have never been traumatized are the least likely population to believe a person's recounting of child sexual abuse.
The study -- published in the March issue of the journal Psychology of Women Quarterly -- also finds that males with high sexism beliefs also tend to believe that such incidents, if they happened at all, were not harmful to the victim.
Why does it matter? Jennifer Freyd, a UO professor of psychology and co-author of the new study, says when people don't believe victims, it discourages victims from speaking out and allows perpetrators to escape unpunished and possibly repeat such crimes.
The study compared men and women who had had their trust betrayed by an adult to those that had not. They found that men who had not had their trust betrayed by an adult were the least likely to believe that child sexual abuse happens, or that it affects the victim. Why do you think these men don't believe abuse victims?
2007-06-09
10:02:02
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10 answers
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asked by
edith clarke
7