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Professionals' Criteria for Detecting and Reporting Child Sexual Abuse

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 January 2013

Eva González Ortega ,
Begoña Orgaz Baz  and
Félix López Sánchez
Eva González Ortega*
Affiliation:
Universidad de Salamanca (Spain)
Begoña Orgaz Baz
Affiliation:
Universidad de Salamanca (Spain)
Félix López Sánchez
Affiliation:
Universidad de Salamanca (Spain)
*
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Eva González Ortega. Departamento de Psicología Evolutiva y de la Educación, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad de Salamanca. Avda. de la Merced, 109-131, 37005, Salamanca (Spain). E-mail: evagonz@usal.es
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Abstract

Professionals who are likely to come into contact with children play an essential role in the protection of children, thus we aimed to study the criteria they use to identify and report child sexual abuse cases. Based on the Factorial Survey design, we presented 974 Spanish (90%) and Latin American professionals from six fields (Psychology, Social Services, Education, Health, Law and Security) with hypothetical situations of sexual interaction with minors (systematically varying the type of sexual act, the child's and the other person's sex and age, the use of coercion and the type of strategy employed to involve the child), in order to examine their perception of abuse and willingness to report. According to results, the factors or criteria that most impact assessments are age asymmetry and use of coercion. Specifically, professionals are significantly more likely to perceive abuse and intend to report it if the other person involved in the interaction is much older than the minor and/or uses a coercive strategy, especially force, drugs or blackmail. Another relevant criterion is the type of sexual act, since acts involving intercourse, digital penetration or oral sex are significantly more likely to be deemed as abuse and reported.

Los profesionales de disciplinas que favorecen el contacto con niños/as juegan un papel esencial en la protección de la infancia y por ello, estudiamos cuáles son los criterios que aplican para detectar y denunciar casos de abuso sexual. Basándonos en la Encuesta Factorial, preguntamos a 974 profesionales españoles (90%) y latinoamericanos de seis ramas distintas (Psicología, Servicios Sociales, Educación, Salud, Justicia y Seguridad) si consideran abusivas y si denunciarían diversas situaciones hipotéticas de interacción sexual (variando sistemáticamente el tipo de conducta sexual, el sexo y la edad del menor y la otra persona, el uso de coerción y la estrategia usada para implicar al menor). Los resultados indican que la asimetría de edad y el uso de coerción son los criterios que más tienen en cuenta los profesionales; en concreto, la probabilidad de percibir un abuso y denunciar es significativamente mayor si la otra persona en la interacción tiene mucha más edad que el menor y/o usa una estrategia coercitiva, especialmente, las drogas, la fuerza o el chantaje. Otro criterio importante es el tipo de conducta sexual, dado que los actos de coito, penetración digital, y sexo oral tienen una probabilidad significativamente mayor de percibirse como abusivos y ser denunciados.

Keywords

sexual abuseminorsprofessionalsperceptionFactorial Surveyabuso sexualmenoresprofesionalespercepciónEncuesta Factorial
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 15 , Issue 3 , November 2012 , pp. 1325 - 1338
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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