Assigning responsibility to nonoffending mothers in child sexual abuse cases: The effects of a brief educational intervention

Studies have found that most nonoffending mothers of sexually abused children provide their children with some form of support and protection. Despite this, they continue to receive blame for the abuse by significant others and professional service providers. The current study compared the amount of responsibility assigned to nonoffending mothers by 220 undergraduates who participated in one of the three brief educational interventions and read a vignette describing intrafamilial CSA. Analyses of covariance found that participants who learned about the experiences of nonoffending mothers attributed significantly less responsibility to the nonoffending mother than participants who learned only general information about either child sexual abuse or health and nutrition. Participants who learned specific information about nonoffending mothers were also less likely to recommend punitive actions against the nonoffending mother. In addition, hierarchical multiple regression analyses were used to explore how various participant characteristics predicted the amount of responsibility attributed to the nonoffending mother. Gender was the only participant characteristic that significantly added to the prediction of amount of responsibility assigned to nonoffending mothers for CSA, with females attributing more responsibility to nonoffending mothers than males. Implications for undergraduate and professional training are discussed.