User:Radvo/sandbox

This post is in harmony with the suggestions of User:Anthonyhcole for making substantive changes to the Wikipedia article. Since CSA causing harm is controversial here, I have made a very detailed post.

Here are some citations and "direct quotations" that suggest some possibility of a causal link between CSA and "harm" in some persons/CSA victims under 18 years. The reader should understand that CSA refers to both child and adolescent sexual abuse to age 18! I suggest we select the strongest studies to provide additional support the first sentence above (as Juice suggested for this clean-up Section). This is an expansion, not a clean up. This scholarly research survey (below) is based on the recommended research/researchers suggested recently by Juice (farther above). This search for citations would benefit from some information on the other more recent meta-analyses in the last 15 years. There are many, including a recent one with data from over a million subjects! but I did not have the time to include them here. My post below is too long already for most editors.

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Beitchman (1991) Qualitative Review of "short term effects", Research Support by Canadian Government.

“ Reviews 42 studies on the short- and long-term effects of child sexual abuse. Frequency and duration of abuse, abuse involving penetration, force, or violence, and a close relationship to the perpetrator appear to be the most harmful in terms of long-lasting effects on the child. The high prevalence of marital breakdown and psychopathology among parents of children who are sexually abused makes it difficult to determine the specific impact of sexual abuse over and above the effects of a disturbed home environment. Given the broad range of outcome among sexual abuse victims, as well as the methodological weaknesses present in many of the studies reviewed, it is not possible at this time to postulate the existence of a “post-sexual-abuse-syndrome” with a specific course or outcome. ”

Beitchman uses the words "sequelae" and "effects", but avoids the use of the words "cause" or "causes" in the abstract. Did they attend to confounding variables? --Radvo

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/014521349190038F

http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/1992-09360-001

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1959086

http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=sUkVDAy8Vk4C&oi=fnd&pg=PA181&ots=zhiK_lmjn3&sig=auRwmbXvs9tvuLltPf2pUaH9QIY#v=onepage&q&f=false

Beitchman (1992) Qualitative Review of "long term effects", Research Support from the Canadian Gov't

Similar to the above.

“ the specific effects of sexual abuse, independent of force, threat of force, or such family variables as parental psychopathology, are still to be clarified. [Symptoms listed] but force and threat of force may be a necessary concomitant. Greater long-term harm is associated with abuse involving a father or stepfather and abuse involving penetration. Longer duration is associated with greater impact, and the use of force or threat of force is associated with greater harm. ...specific effects, independent of force, threatened force, or family variables such as parental psychopathology, are not yet clarified. ”

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/014521349290011F

http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/1992-27602-001%201992-27602-001

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1544021

http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=EJ444416&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=EJ444416

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Browne (1986)

“ Reviews studies that have tried to empirically confirm the effects of child sexual abuse cited in the clinical literature. In regard to initial effects, empirical studies have indicated reactions—in at least some portion of the victim population—of fear, anxiety, depression, anger and hostility, aggression, and sexually inappropriate behavior. Frequently reported long-term effects include depression and self-destructive behavior, anxiety, feelings of isolation and stigma, poor self-esteem, difficulty in trusting others, a tendency toward revictimization, substance abuse, and sexual maladjustment. The kinds of abuse that appear to be most damaging are experiences involving father figures, genital contact, and force ”

http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/bul/99/1/66/

http://psycnet.apa.org/?fa=main.doiLanding&doi=10.1037/0033-2909.99.1.66

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3704036

http://www.mendeley.com/research/impact-of-child-sexual-abuse-a-review-of-the-research/

https://www.ncjrs.gov/App/abstractdb/AbstractDBDetails.aspx?id=105706

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Constantine (1981) Larry Constantine Book Chapter--Chapter title: "Effects of Early Sexual Experiences: A Review and Synthesis of Research Short Reviews" Constantine reviewed 30 independent investigations on this subject. Only five of the researchers concluded that there could be some long-term negative effects, but in these cases the subjects had been juvenile delinquents and psychopathic, and it was therefore difficult to distinguish between cause and effect. Where the sample studied was selected from the general population, no mention was made of negative results. Six of the researchers commented on positive long-term effects.

http://isbndb.com/d/person/constantine_larry_l/subject/children_sexual_behavior.html

http://lccn.loc.gov/81081395

http://catalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?v3=14&ti=1,14&SEQ=20120202103219&Search_Arg=Constantine%20Larry%20L&Search_Code=GKEY^*&CNT=25&PID=B_AyUdcyRTrL9uNd8kromyK08yjb&SID=

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Saunders (1992) All female subjects; no males. No control for confounding variables? child < 18 years old

“ Mental disorder lifetime prevalence risk ratios for child rape and molestation victims versus nonvictims ranged from 1.5 for major depressive episode to 6.7 for obsessive-compulsive disorder. ”

http://jiv.sagepub.com/content/7/2/189.short

http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=EJ507932&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=EJ507932

https://www.ncjrs.gov/app/abstractdb/AbstractDBDetails.aspx?id=137650

http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/1992-43386-001%201992-43386-001

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Levitt (1995)

“ not all victims are emotionally injured." "A substantial number of these investigations find that a majority of victims suffer no extensive harm. Other variables such as family dynamics are involved; there may be only a few cases in which emotional harm results from sexual abuse as a single factor. ”

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00207149508409958

http://direct.bl.uk/bld/PlaceOrder.do?UIN=026315165&ETOC=EN&from=searchengine

http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/1995-33434-001

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7737760

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Kendall-Tacket meta-analysis (1993): I (Radvo) suggest many in the CSA research community may feel this Kendall-Tackett study is one of the strongest of the older studies showing CSA causes harm.

“ all victims were 18 years of age or younger. approximately one-third of victims had no symptoms. Penetration, the duration and frequency of the abuse, force, the relationship of the perpetrator to the child, and maternal support affected the degree of symptomatology. About two-thirds of the children [and adolescents] show recovery during the first 12-18 months. The findings suggest the absence of any specific syndrome in children who have been sexually abused and no single traumatizing process. ”

Kendall Tackett

http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cluster=1618180949832200453&hl=en&num=100&as_sdt=1,39&as_ylo=1993&as_yhi=1993&as_vis=1

http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/bul/113/1/164/

https://www.ncjrs.gov/App/abstractdb/AbstractDBDetails.aspx?id=136072 National Criminal Justice Service Reference Service Author abstract modified.

http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=z-S4LrvYnCQC&oi=fnd&pg=PA31&ots=ayMWW9sZMz&sig=hijhzXbTkU2IG89Pe2XYG_Ax6Ig#v=onepage&q&f=false

http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=sUkVDAy8Vk4C&oi=fnd&pg=PA236&ots=zhiK_lqml4&sig=DkVOH6ZW2XS4Ln3hqScSXAM1aEs#v=onepage&q&f=false

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Rind et al. (2001) had lengthly criticism of this Kendall-Tackett meta-analysis, and claimed they had worked hard to improve on it. To balance the inclusion of Kendall-Tackett (1993), some response from Rind et al. (1998) is justified. The underlining (below) was done by me, and was not in the original article.

Starting with page 748, the rest of this is quoted from

http://psych.colorado.edu/~willcutt/res_meth/Rind_2001.pdf Rind, Bruce, Tromovitch, Philip, & Bauserman, Robert, The Validity and Appropriateness of Methods, Analyses, and Conclusions in Rind et al. (1998): A Rebuttal of Victimological Critique From Ondersma et al. (2001) and Dallam et al. (2001); Psychological Bulletin, volume 127, number 6, pages 734-758, 2001.

“ The last review article on CSA to appear in Psychological Bulletin before ours was that by Kendall- Tackett et al. (1993). This review has been widely cited in the psychology and psychiatry fields as key evidence for the pervasive and intensely harmful effects of CSA. In the same vein, both Dallam et al. (2001) and Ondersma et al. (2001) cited this review as authoritative.

... they accepted its methods and findings uncritically.

We argue that this lack of scrutiny of Kendall-Tackett et al. and simultaneous intense scrutiny of our review represents selective criticism, for much is to be criticized in the Kendall-Tackett et al. review. ...

the Kendall-Tackett et al. (1993) mean effect sizes were .57 for emotional and .63 for behavioral problems. These results were based on sexual abuse treatment samples, not nonclinical samples. Compared with nonclinical junior and senior high school students, however, these effect sizes were highly anomalous, being 2.86 and 3.77 SDs above the mean effect sizes for all studies combined. Clearly, the Kendall-Tackett et al. samples were outliers, highly unrepresentative of the general population of minors. The results from our meta-analyses of national and college samples (Rind & Tromovitch, 1997; Rind et al., 1998), on the other hand, were almost identical to the unbiased effect size estimates of the nonclinical junior and senior high students, as they were to the nonclinical samples that Dallam et al. (2001) mentioned Table 8, which we summarized in Table 6.

In our review, we paid explicit attention to the issue of external validity, making appropriate comparisons between college and national samples. By contrast, Kendall- Tackett et al. completely ignored the issue of external validity, except in a single footnote near the beginning of their review. Consigning such reference to a single footnote and ignoring this important issue entirely in their Discussion section created the impression that their findings were more broadly relevant [to the broader, "normal" population of the USA] than they actually were.

In sum, our review was relatively strong in its treatment of external validity, whereas theirs was weak. Critics of our review on this issue would have more balanced arguments if they applied their criticisms equally to reviews that favor their point of view, rather than accepting them uncritically.

"Internal" Validity

Our review of the college studies was a critical review of causality. It added to previous meta-analytic reviews, where causality could not be analyzed because the primary studies had provided insufficient data on third variables and statistical control (Jumper, 1995; Neumann et al., 1996). Both Jumper and Neumann et al. pointed to the need for future research to address this weakness.

Our review was one such response to this problem, made possible by the fact that the college studies had sufficient relevant data. Whether our findings regarding causality hold up in future investigations is less important than the fact that they formed a central focus of our presentation, as they should have.

The Kendall-Tackett et al. (1993) review, on the other hand, has been par for the course of victimological research on CSA, accepting more or less uncritically CSA's causal role. This [Kendall-Tackett] review included various studies based on daycare satanic ritual abuse (SRA), such as one on the McMartin preschool children (Kelly, 1993), in which nearly half the children fell in the clinical range of PTSD symptomatology. However, the McMartin case has been so thoroughly discredited as a case of implanted memories of abuse rather than real abuse (e.g., Nathan, 1990; Nathan & Snedeker, 1995) that it seems negligent for Kendall-Tackett et al. not to have informed their readers specifically that these were McMartin data and must be viewed with skepticism.

The dramatic effects in this [McMartin daycare] case were attributed to CSA, when in fact they were in greatest likelihood iatrogenic (i.e., induced in the children as the result of hysterical words and reactions of their parents and the professionals]. They also included a review of SRA cases by Kelley (1989), in which again nearly half the children were in the clinical range of PTSD symptomatology, and once again we are given the impression CSA has dramatic effects, when clear alternative explanations are apparent. For instance, Kelley ( 1990) showed that parents of these children were highly disturbed, which suggests that they may have been passing the anxiety on to their children or seeing it in them even if not there. Kendall- Tackett et al. themselves acknowledged that the mothers' judgments about their children's symptoms were highly related to their own level of distress and willingness to believe the children - most reports on child symptoms came from parent-completed checklists.

Kendall- Tackett et al. (1993) dismissed parental reporting bias, noting that therapist judgments were similar, although children's self-reports were much less negative and mothers' reports were poorly related to their children's reports. But because of researcher bias, including demand characteristics and expectancy effects (R. Rosenthal & Rosnow, 1969; Rosnow & Rosenthal, 1997), one cannot assume the validity of therapist judgment, especially given Kendall-Tackett et al.'s note of biased reporting: "Unfortunately, few investigators have reported on ... asymptomatic children, perhaps out of concern that such figures might be misinterpreted or misused" (p. 168).

Aside from discussing this issue of measurement validity, which is relevant to internal validity , Kendall-Tackett et al. never directly addressed the issue of causality; rather, they just assumed it. They assumed it so strongly that they attributed the large percentage of asymptomatic children in their studies to insensitive measures rather than lack of caused harm. [They were so sure that CSA casued harm, that they attributed the lack of harm in about 1/3 or the children to Kendall-Tackett's inability to find the harm if only they could find some goo way to identify and measure it! It was no where to be found!]

Additionally, Kendall-Tackett et al. (1993) inflated the impression that CSA causes harm by calling sexualized behavior a symptom - this was the most common symptom they found. But sexualized behavior is not a symptom of disease or distress - arguing that it is constitutes a value judgment.

As Ford and Beach ( 1951) observed [large snip]

Although inferring causality from correlational data is fraught with problems because of unexamined third variables, one is on much stronger ground in inferring lack of support for causality when factors are no longer correlated after statistical control, because a requirement of causation is correlation.

Our review, which followed this logic in assessing causality, represents an advance over the Kendall- Tackett et al. (1993) review, which by contrast paid scant attention to causality - just assuming it instead - and inflated the impression of causal effects with some questionable data, measures, and definitions of harm. Critics of our review, to be balanced, should also discuss the weaknesses of the Kendall- Tackett et al. review, as well as the many other similar reviews.

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All the above is quoted from http://psych.colorado.edu/~willcutt/res_meth/Rind_2001.pdf. --Radvo (talk) 17:32, 2 February 2012 (UTC)