Post a response:
|
That would be really great shy guy to get feedback from you on the new meta-analysis. I have written an email to www.boychat.org and asked that the email be forwarded to you. If you don't receive this email, it would be great if you could write me here sometime to let me know how we can communicate. Below are the posts on the importance of age in sexual acts for later impairments from the two articles by David Finkelhor and others. The issue is already relatively complicated. To really clarify the research question, one would need to comprehensively control for aspects of sexual acts (e.g. frequency) as well as confounding variables. However, such studies are not available. Also, on the question of the significance of age of "minors" for the enjoyment of sexual acts with adults, the first multivariate study by Bruce Rind was published only a few months ago, controlling for age at sexual acts as well as other aspects of sexual acts. „One of these days, we'll have to initiate a project to consolidate all the findings that BC posters (especially you) have accumulated. I'm thinking a "research timeline" could be an interesting project.“ I would like to be part of such a project. I have already written a text that could perhaps be used as the basis for such a project and could be revised and improved together. Or a completely new text could be created. From my point of view, it would be better not to structure this first text chronologically, but in terms of content, in order to show "the truth" of our topic, which is already complicated enough. Perhaps one could then analyse in a second text how the chronological course of "official science" was with our topic and in what relation the two are to each other. 1) Excerpt from: Kendall-Tackett KA, Williams LM, Finkelhor D. Impact of sexual abuse on children: a review and synthesis of recent empirical studies. Psychol Bull. 1993 Jan;113(1):164-80. doi: 10.1037/0033-2909.113.1.164. PMID: 8426874. „Age of onset is another possible intervening variable. However, age of onset was related to symptoms in only one study, which showed that those with early age of onset were more likely to manifest symptoms of pathology (Zivney, Nash, & Hulsey, 1988). In two other studies no difference was found in level of pathology for early versus late age of onset. By and large, it appears that age of onset must be fit into a total conceptual model of molestation. Research is insufficient to permit any conclusions about whether early versus late age of onset is more likely to lead to greater symptomatology. Age of onset might be related more to other characteristics of the abuse (such as identity of the perpetrator) than to overall number and severity of symptoms. Although the relationship of age of onset to symptomatology in children is not clear at this time, in two recent studies an early age of onset was found to be related to amnesia among adult survivors (Briere & Conte, 1989) and late presentation for treatment (Kendall-Tackett, 1991).“ 2) Excerpt from: Browne A, Finkelhor D. Impact of child sexual abuse: a review of the research. Psychol Bull. 1986 Jan;99(1):66-77. PMID: 3704036. „Age at Onset There has been a continuing controversy in the literature about how a child's age might affect his or her reactions to a sexually abusive experience. Some have contended that younger children are more vulnerable to trauma because of their impressionability. Others have felt that their naivete may protect them from some negative effects, especially if they are ignorant of the social stigma surrounding the kind of victimization they have suffered. Unfortunately, findings from the available studies do not resolve this dispute. Two studies of long-term effects do suggest that younger children are somewhat more vulnerable to trauma. Meiselman (1978), in her chart review of adults in treatment, found that 37% of those who experienced incest prior to puberty were seriously disturbed, compared with only 17% of those who were victimized after puberty. Similarly, Courtois(1979), in her community sample, assessed the impact of child sexual abuse on long-term relationships with men and the women's sense of self, and also found more effects from prepubertal experiences. However, four other studies found no significant relation between age at onset and impact. Finkelhor (1979), in a multivariate analysis, found a small but nonsignificant tendency for younger age to be associated with trauma. Russell (in press) also found a small but nonsignificant trend for experiences before age 9 to be associated with more long-term trauma. Langmade (1983) could find no difference in sexual anxiety, sexual guilt, or sexual dissatisfaction in adults related to the age at which they were abused. Bagley and Ramsay (1985) found an association between younger age and trauma, but that association dropped out in multivariate analysis, especially when controlling for acts involving penetration. The Tufts (1984) study gave particular attention to children's reactions to abuse at different ages. Tufts researchers concluded that age at onset bore no systematic relation to the degree of disturbance. They did note that latency-age children were the most disturbed, but this finding appeared more related to the age at which the children were evaluated than the age at which they were first abused. They concluded that the age at which abuse begins may be less important than the stages of development through which the abuse persists. In summary, studies tend to show little clear relation between age of onset and trauma, especially when they control for other factors. If there is a trend, it is for abuse at younger ages to be more traumatic. Both of the initial hypotheses about age of onset may have some validity, however: Some younger children may be protected by naivete, whereas others are more seriously traumatized by impressionability. However, age interacts with other factors like relationship to offender, and until more sophisticated analytical studies are done, we cannot say whether these current findings of a weak relation mean that age has little independent effect or is simply still masked in complexity.“ |