Olfactive frames of remembering: theorizing self,senses and society

By analysing sensorial aspects of social memory and emotions, this paper theorizes the social significance of olfaction and other senses towards reconfigurations of self and social interactions through embodied identity work. The research question that this paper addresses is: how is the self perceived through memories that are mediated by smells? Olfactive frames of remembering are employed in order to explicate sensory meta‐narratives including sensory relations (pertaining to familial and other ties), sensory memory, time and space, and sensoryscapes. This article also elucidates upon the various moral, cultural and aesthetic codes that may be discerned in biographical narrations of social actors drawn from narrative interviews. Furthermore, it highlights a need to consider sensorial‐bodily experiences in qualitative inquiry and thereby conceptualize how actors articulate their sense of self, and how they reformulate their experiences and relationships with others vis‐à‐vis emotional discourses of happiness, sadness and nostalgia in the maintenance and continuity of selfhood. The paper therefore contributes to sensuous scholarship by explicating how smells and memories operate in conjunction toward shaping self‐identity and social relations.     

The effects of interviewer race and child race on sexual abuse disclosures in forensic interviews

This study examined the impact of interviewer race and child race on disclosures by alleged child sexual abuse victims during forensic interviews. Despite findings that supportiveness of caretaker, gender of interviewer, gender of child, and age of child affect disclosure, previous studies have failed to examine race as a variable impacting disclosure in a real-world setting. The study examined 220 cases from an archive of reports generated from forensic interviews in an urban setting. The reports were reviewed and coded for degree of disclosure, focusing on African American and Caucasian children and interviewers. The results indicate that child race and the interaction of child race and interviewer race reliably distinguished between no disclosure, tentative disclosure, and disclosure with detailed account of activity, while interviewer race alone failed to serve as a significant predictor. The interaction between child race and interviewer race was not in the predicted direction, with cross-race dyads disclosing more than same-race dyads. Results are discussed in the context of real-world applications versus the previous analogue child sexual abuse literature.     

The "Wall of Fear": the bridge between the traumatic event and trauma resolution therapy for childhood sexual abuse survivors

A multitude of published books and papers on child sexual abuse (CSA) describe symptoms, long-term effects, and therapy for survivors of abuse. However, the parallels between the nature of the sexual trauma event(s) as originally experienced by the victim and the therapeutic process into which the survivor later becomes engaged have not been reported. This paper attempts to fill that gap and proposes that the concept of a Wall of Fear is the bridge connecting the two. In the first part of the paper, a model of the CSA experience based upon Furniss (1991) will be explained in order to point out the basis for the dissociation and other symptomatology demonstrated by the CSA victim. Following that, the stages of therapy will be mapped out, with special attention to the concept of the Wall of Fear (Oz, 1999) and traumatic memory resolution (abreactions) and with reference to the experience of the original traumatic events. Therapist fear of decompensation will be addressed.     

The ultimate deception: childhood sexual abuse in the church

Childhood sexual abuse is a serious problem. Significant evidence exists that victims experience both short-term and long-term emotional and psychological problems related to the abuse. Childhood sexual abuse committed by clergy or other adults affiliated with the church may have additional ramifications because of deep violations of trust, honesty, and love. In addition, it can create spiritual distress in victims. Child and adolescent mental health nurses need to actively promote risk-reduction strategies to help prevent the abuse from occurring in their communities.     

Infant development and the sense of self: Stern VS. Mahler

Recent research into infant development and the development of the sense of self appears to contradict Mahler's theory of separation-individuation. The author proposes that these theories are not as divergent as first appears. Discerning shared features of these theories should prove clinically relevant and will enhance the social work clinician's understanding of early development and its relation to adult psychopathology.     

The confrontation clause and the child victim of sexual abuse

Courtroom proceedings for child sexual abuse often represent a morass of conflicting rights and counterproductive justice. Within this article, conflicting rights of adults and children regarding courtroom testimony are explored with an interest in assessing the effects of testifying for children and addressing the process of making children's testimonies less traumatic and more credible.     

Childhood sexual and physical abuse and adult vulnerability to PTSD: the mediating effects of attachment and dissociation

Two hundred and eighty-four adults from the metropolitan New York area reported on their history of childhood sexual abuse (CSA), childhood physical abuse (CPA), and on the nature of their exposure to the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. The respondents also completed the Impact of Events Scale-Revised (IES-R), the Attachment Style Questionnaire (ASQ) and the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES). Those reporting histories of CSA and/or CPA were found to endorse more serious symptoms of PTSD, as did those who witnessed the terrorist attack live. The presence of secure attachments and dissociative symptoms were related significantly to both CSA and CPA, and to scores on the IES-R. Adult attachment and dissociation were found to mediate the relationship between childhood abuse and severity of PTSD.     

Disclosing sexual abuse: the impact of developmental variables

Despite increasing evidence that even a young child can be a competent witness in a court of law, there is one factor that is often used to impeach the credibility of a child in a sexual abuse case, and that is the nature and timing of the child's disclosure of the sexual victimization. This paper examines the impact of developmental variables on that disclosure and suggests that when those variables are recognized, the credibility of the young child as a witness increases.     

The sexual abuse questionnaire: a preliminary examination of a time and cost efficient method in evaluating the presence of childhood sexual abuse in adult patients

This paper provides the results of two studies designed to evaluate a newly constructed self-report instrument, the Sexual Abuse Questionnaire (SAQ). The SAQ was designed as a brief screening device to aid in the identification of a childhood sexual abuse history. A "unique" feature of the SAQ is the inclusion of a number of non-face valid questions derived from clinical experience. Both studies used an undergraduate population of self-reported abused and non-abused participants. Based upon the combined results of the two studies, the final version of the SAQ was developed, which is comprised of 45 items that manifest good test-retest reliability, internal consistency, and convergent and discriminative validity. The SAQ can discriminate between abused and non-abused male and female participants.     

Against the odds: the impact of woman abuse on maternal response to disclosure of child sexual abuse

Although the co-occurrence of woman abuse and child sexual abuse is high little research exists exploring the impact of woman abuse on maternal response to child sexual abuse (CSA). Findings from two qualitative studies indicate the form of woman abuse to have differential impact on maternal response. Mothers who were abused in non-physical ways, psychological, or emotional, displayed more ambivalent, less supportive responses. Mothers who were physically abused by their partners more often acted supportively to their children and displayed less ambivalence about separating from the perpetrator. Some survivors reported non-disclosure as children because of their fear of the perpetrator due to the woman abuse they were exposed to while being sexually abused. Practice and research implications are discussed.     

The neglected priority: sexual abuse in the context of residential child care

In 1995, a questionnaire was sent to Scotland's residential child care services. Of 89 questions, five concerned sexual abuse. Responses were analysed along several variables—service type, gender and age of residents. A detailed report was compiled (Lindsay, 1997). The response rate was 94% of all Scottish services. The largest group of services were children's homes (112–49%), then residential schools (43–19%), residential respite care (28–12%), care leavers services (16–7%), services for young homeless people (15–7%) and secure units (5–3%), with other service types seven (3%). Two‐thirds of services believed they were caring for children who had been abused and one third for children who had abused others. Where children who had abused others were present, in 91% there were also abused children in the same service. The results were consistent across the variables. In a few cases, allegations of abuse had been made against staff. This was commoner in services for males than females. Staff requested more training and support in their stressful role. These findings have implications for the practice and training of residential staff, management policies and procedure and the design of new services. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The role of disclosing child sexual abuse on adolescent adjustment and revictimization

The role of disclosing child sexual abuse on adolescent survivors' symptomatology and the presence of additional unwanted sexual experiences was investigated in a subsample of 111 adolescents from the National Survey of Adolescents who reported child sexual abuse. Results indicated that prompt disclosure of sexual abuse to an adult moderated the influence of penetration during the abuse on the number of symptoms at assessment. Thus, prompt disclosure buffered the influence of more severe abuse. Disclosure also had a main effect on the likelihood of further victimization. Participants who told an adult promptly after the abuse were less likely to report additional unwanted sexual experiences.     

Puerto Rican drug users experiences of physical and sexual abuse: comparisons based on sexual identities

This study integrates the results of quantitative and qualitative methods to elucidate the association between sexual identity and physical and sexual abuse among Puerto Rican drug users. A structured questionnaire was administered to 800 subjects in New York and 399 in Puerto Rico. A total of 93 subjects (7.9%) self-identified as homosexual or bisexual. Gay males were significantly more likely than heterosexual males to report first occurrence of physical abuse by a family member in childhood. Both gay and bisexual males were more likely than their heterosexual counterparts to report first experiencing unwanted sex in childhood and intimate partner physical abuse later in life. Lesbians were more likely than female heterosexuals to report unwanted sex in childhood. Qualitative data were collected through in-depth life histories with 21 subjects and suggest that gay and lesbian subjects perceive antihomosexual prejudice on the part of family members as one cause of childhood physical and sexual abuse.     

(Mis) representations of the long-term effects of childhood sexual abuse in the courts

This study addresses the (mis) representations made by pro-false memory attorneys and expert witnesses in court regarding the long-term effects of childhood sexual abuse (CSA). Five pro-false memory positions were identified: (1) there is no causal connection between CSA and adult psychopathology; (2) the evidence is insufficient; (3) CSA does not cause specific trauma-related outcomes like borderline and dissociative identity disorder; (4) other variables than CSA explain the variance of adult psychopathology; and (5) the long-term effects of CSA are general and non-specific. Examining the testimony revealed that such pro-false memory testimony was based solely on a partial understanding of retrospective data and that pro-false memory experts do not cite the more recent prospective data. Reviewing the totality of the scientific evidence demonstrates that such pro-false memory testimony is inaccurate and has the potential of misleading the jury. Prospective studies provide sufficient evidence to causally link CSA to a number of areas of adult psychopathology including multiple, co-morbid psychiatric conditions, and possibly to link early parent-infant attachment pathology to the development of borderline and dissociative identity disorder.     

The process of coping following child sexual abuse:a qualitative study

This research employed both quantitative and qualitative approaches to studying the immediate and long-term coping strategies adopted by survivors of child sexual abuse, focusing on how strategies evolve over time. Qualitative findings showed that coping with child sexual abuse is not static, but changes over time. The narratives of these nonclinical survivors suggest that an adaptive outcome may be associated with a particular evolution of strategies across time, i.e., survivors reported coping predominantly by engaging in psychological escape methods initially, and then adopting cognitive appraisal and positive reframing strategies in the longer term. It appears that coping processes can affect psychological outcome following child sexual abuse. This study offers insight into the evolution of coping methods associated with an adaptive outcome.     

Hiding behind the cloth:child sexual abuse and the Catholic Church

The existence of child sexual abuse within the Catholic Church has shocked many. In this article, the authors review the history of child sexual abuse in the church, the recent events that brought this tragedy into societal consciousness, and the efforts by the church to conceal the abuse. Two sources of empirical literature, the general psychological writing on priest sex abuse and the psychoanalytic literature, on child sexual abuse are compared. Both sources of literature seek explanation for priests' child sexual abuse within the structure and culture of the church rather than viewing the priest as a "typical" sex predator. The authors argue that, in fact, the guilty priests are child predators who differ little from other child predators.