Skip to main content
Log in

RIND, TROMOVITCH, AND BAUSERMAN: POLITICALLY INCORRECT—SCIENTIFICALLY CORRECT

  • Articles
  • Published:
Sexuality and Culture Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Conclusion

The Rind et al. study of the impact of CSA among college students is politically incorrect but scientifically correct. It has a number of important implications for the research and practice communities. Among the more important is the need to stop exaggerating the negative impact of, adult/nonadult sexual behavior, as suggested earlier by both Browne and Finkelhor and by Seligman. Another important implication is for conducting research that does not approach the issue of adult/nonadult sexual behavior with a political ideology as often has been the case thus far. And finally it is time to stop the common practices of 1) assuming that CSA causes psychological harm, and 2) routinely recommending psychotherapeutic intervention.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • American Psychological Association. (1999). Statement on childhood sexual abuse. APA Public Communications [On-line]. URL: www.apa.org/releases/ childsexabuse.html

  • Beitchman J. H., Zucker, K. J., Hood, J. E., DaCosta, G., Akman D., & Cassavia, E. (1992). A review of the long-term effects of child sexual abuse. Child Abuse & Neglect, 16, 101–118.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beutler, L. E., Williams, R. E., & Zetzer, H. A. (1994). Efficacy of treatment for victims of child sexual abuse. The Future of Children, 4(2), 156–175.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bickman L. (1996). A continuum of care: More is not always better. American Psychologist, 51, 689–701.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Browne, A., & Finkelhor D. (1986). Initial and long-term effects: A review of the research. In D. Finkelhor, A sourcebook on child sexual abuse (pp. 143–179). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bullough, V. L. (1990). History in adult human sexual behavior with children and adolescents in, Western societies. In J. R. Feierman (Ed.), Pedophilia: Biosocial dimensions (pp. 69–90). New York: Springer-Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bushman, B. J., Baumeister, R. F., & Stack, A. D. (1999). Catharsis, aggression, and persuasive influence: Self-fulfilling or self-defeating prophecies? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76, 367–376.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Campbell, T. W. (1994). Beware the talking cure: Psychotherapy may be hazardous to your mental health Boca Raton: Upton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ceci, S. J., & Bruck, M. (1995). Jeopardy in the courtroom: A scientific analysis of children's testimony. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Constantine L. L. (1981). Effects of early sexual experience: A review and synthesis of research. In L. L. Constantine, & F. M. Martinson (Eds.), Children and sex: New findings, new perspectives (pp. 217–244). Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Conte, J. R. (1985). The effects of sexual abuse on children: A critique and suggestions for future research. Victimology: An International Journal, 10, 110–130.

    Google Scholar 

  • Costin, L., Karger, H. J., & Stoesz, D. (1996). The politics of child abuse in America. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crittenden P. M. (1996). Research on maltreating families. In J. Briere, L. Berliner, J. A. Bulkley, C. Jenny, & T. Reid (Eds.), The APSAC handbook on child maltreatment (pp. 158–174). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dineen, T. (1998). Manufacturing, victims: What the psychology industry is doing to people (2nd ed.). Montreal: Robert Davies.

    Google Scholar 

  • Feierman, J. B. (1990). A biosocial overview of adult human sexual behavior with children and adolescents. In J. R. Feierman (Ed.), Pedophilia: Biosocial dimensions (pp. 8–68). New York: Springer-Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Finkelhor, D. (1979). What's wrong with sex between adults and children?: Ethics and the problem of sexual abuse. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 49, 692–697.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Finkelhor, D., & Berliner, L. (1995). Research on the treatment of sexually abused children: A review and recommendations. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 34, 1408–1423.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Friedrich, W. N., Grambsch, P., Broughton, D., Kuiper, J., & Beilke, R. L. (1991). Normative sexual behavior in children. Pediatrics, 88, 456–464.

    Google Scholar 

  • Friedrich, W. N., Fisher, J., Broughton, D., Houston, M., & Shafran, C. R. (1998). Normative sexual behavior in children: A contemporary sample. Pediatrics, 101 [On-line]. URL: www.pediatrics.org/cgi/content/full/101/4/e9

  • Kendall-Tackett K. A., Williams, L. M., & Finkelhor, D. (1993). Impact of sexual abuse on children: A review and synthesis of recent empirical studies. Psychological Bulletin, 113, 164–180.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kilpatrick, A. C. (1992). Long-range effects of child and adolescent sexual experiences. Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lamb, S., & Coakley, M. (993). “Normal” childhood sexual play and games; Differentiating play from abuse. Child Abuse & Neglect, 17, 515–526.

    Google Scholar 

  • Levitt, E. E., & Pinnell, C. M. (1995). Some additional light on the childhood sexual abuse-psychopathology axis. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 43, 145–162.

    Google Scholar 

  • Loftus, E. F. (1997). Repressed memory accusations: Devastated families and devastated patients. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 11, 25–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miller, T. R., Cohen, M. A., & Wiersema, B. (1996). Victim costs and consequences: A new look. Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nathan, D., & Snedeker, M. (1995). Satan's silence: Ritual abuse and the making of a modern American witch hunt. New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Neimark, J. (1996, January/February). The diva of disclosure. Psychology Today, pp. 48–52, 78, 80.

  • Ofshe, R., & Watters, E. (1994). Making monsters: False memories, psycho-therapy, and sexual hysteria. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.

    Google Scholar 

  • Okami, P. (1990). Sociopolitical biases in the contemporary scientific literature on adult human sexual behavior with children and adolescents. In J. R. Feierman (Ed.), Pedophilia: Biosocial dimensions (pp. 91–121). New York: Springer-Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parr, L. E. (1996, March). Repressed memory claims in the Crime Victims Compensation Program. Olympia: Washington State Department of Labor and Industries. Unpublished manuscript (with contributions from B. Huseby and R. Brown).

    Google Scholar 

  • Piper, A. (1994). Treatment for Multiple Personality Disorder: At what cost? American Journal of Psychotherapy, 48, 392–400.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rind, B. & Tromovitch, P. (1997). A meta-analytic review of findings from national samples on psychological correlates of child sexual abuse. Journal of Sex Research, 34, 237–255.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rind, B., Tromovitch, P., & Bauserman, R. (1998). A metal-analytic examination of assumed properties of child sexual abuse using college samples. Psychological Bulletin, 124, 22–53.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seligman, M. E. P. (1994). What you can change and what you can't. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stocks, J. T. (1998). Recovered memory therapy: A dubious practice technique. Social Work, 43, 423–436.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tavris, C. (1993, January 3). Beware the incest-survivor machine. The New York Times Book Review, pp. 1, 16–17.

  • U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (1999). Mental health: A report of the Surgeon General. Rockville, MD: Author.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walters, D. R. (1975). Physical and sexual abuse of children: Causes and treatment. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weisz, J. R., Weiss, B., Han, S. S., Granger, D. A., & Morton, T. (1995). Effects of psychotherapy with children and adolescents revisited: A meta-analysis of treatment outcome studies. Psychological Bulletin, 117, 450–468.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weisz, J. R., Weiss, B., & Donenberg, G. R. (1992). The lab versus the clinic: Effects of child and adolescent psychotherapy. American Psychologist, 47, 1578–1585.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Oellerich, T.D. RIND, TROMOVITCH, AND BAUSERMAN: POLITICALLY INCORRECT—SCIENTIFICALLY CORRECT. Sex Cult 4, 67–81 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-000-1027-3

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-000-1027-3

Keywords

Navigation