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Patterns Of Athlete Abuse In The U.S. Center For Safesport Central Disciplinary Database: 602
... A few studies have been conducted on reports of IV made through the complaint mechanisms, which informs us on the nature of the incidents but not on the mechanisms' internal processes. In one instance, data from the U.S. Center for SafeSport Centralized Disciplinary Database identified an association between reports of sexual violence and sport with low clothing coverage, individual disciplines, and mixed-gender events (Naushad et al., 2021). In the UK, researchers compiled official reports of IV toward children in sport, as received by local authorities, the regional entry point of the child protective services (Hartill & Lang, 2018). ...
Past studies have highlighted the lack of independent formal complaint mechanisms as one of the most significant barriers to reporting interpersonal violence (IV) in sport. Some countries have since implemented complaint mechanisms specific to sport settings. Evaluations of similar mechanisms in other sectors could inform the development and implementation of complaint mechanisms for IV in sport. This rapid review included studies inside and outside the sport context to document the characteristics of complaint mechanisms of IV, barriers or limitations related to such mechanisms, and recommendations resulting from their evaluation. Following the Cochrane Rapid Reviews Interim Guidance, six databases were searched for peer-reviewed references in English or French, published between 2012 and 2022, and pertaining to the evaluation of formal reporting mechanisms of IV. The 35 references covered mechanisms mainly targeting IV in general (any type) or sexual violence specifically. Complaint mechanisms varied in scope and as a function of their setting, including work, university, military, and medical. We identified barriers and limitations concerning fear of consequences, lack of knowledge, lack of efficiency, lack of trust, and unsupportive culture. Finally, we documented 18 recommendations to improve complaint mechanisms of IV, spanning four categories: (a) organizational accountability, (b) awareness and accessibility, (c) adapted process, and (d) ongoing evaluation. This rapid review draws recommendations from various research disciplines and types of mechanisms to offer a comprehensive portrait of best practices. The findings show that numerous aspects of complaint mechanisms at multiple levels should be considered when developing and implementing complaint mechanisms of IV.
Background
Research on the prevalence of sexual violence in sport mostly focuses on incidents of sexual violence that happen in the context of sport, but few studies are available that systematically target the lifetime prevalence of sexual violence in the athletes (as persons), combining experiences in sport and outside the sport system. The aim of the current study was thus to compare sexual violence experiences of elite athletes in Germany in sport with those outside sport.
Methods
The study was carried out in cooperation with the German Olympic and Paralympic Committee who contacted their registered elite athletes. In total, 1529 elite athletes took part in an online survey and answered questions regarding their sexual violence experiences first in the context of sport and afterwards outside the sport context.
Results
Results show that 54.2% of the athletes had experienced some form of sexual violence during their lifetime, 20.6% even a severe incident of sexual violence. Incidents happened more often outside sport than in sport, but 48% of the victims were affected in both areas of life, indicating a high overlap of victimization experiences.
Conclusion
One recommendation from our results is therefore to make even stronger efforts to protect young athletes from becoming a victim of sexual violence. In case a sport club has a person of trust in the club, it can be an important place for athletes with sexual violence experiences (no matter whether experienced inside or outside sport), so that they are being heard and helped.
While society at large recognizes the many benefits of sport, it is important to also recognize and prevent factors that can lead to an abusive environment. This paper seeks to combine the current research on abuse in the sport environment with the work of the U.S. Center for SafeSport. The inclusion of risk factors unique to sport and evidence-informed practices provides framing for the scope and response to sexual abuse in sport organizations in the United States. The paper then explores the creation and mission of the U.S. Center for SafeSport, including the role of education in prevention and of policy, procedures, audit, and compliance as important aspects of a comprehensive safeguarding strategy. This paper provides preliminary data on the reach of the Center, established in 2017. This data captures the scope of education and training and the increase in reports to the Center from within the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Movement.
Child maltreatment in sport is an undeniable problem.
High-profile cases of sexual abuse of child athletes are
obvious examples of child maltreatment in this context.
Young athletes also face physical and psychological
maltreatment, as well as neglect, although these types
of child maltreatment are understudied in sport and
receive less public attention. Little is known as to how
to define physical and psychological maltreatment and
neglect in sport and their diverse manifestations. The aim
of this paper is to propose concrete manifestations of
each type of child maltreatment in sport. We aim to help
practitioners better understand and researchers better
measure this problem.
Objectives
This paper tests theoretical arguments that suggest court actors hold gendered views of sex offenders that result in a gender gap in sex offender punishment, where women who commit sexual offenses are treated more leniently than their male counterparts.
Methods
We test this argument with precision matching analyses using 15 years of data on all felony sex offenders sentenced in a single state.
Results
Results indicate that gender disparities in sex offender sentencing exist and are pervasive across sex offense types. Specifically, male sex offenders are more likely to be sentenced to prison, and given longer terms, than female sex offenders. Findings are similar across sex offense severity and whether the offense involved a minor victim.
Conclusions
These findings suggest that female sex offenders are treated more leniently than their matched male counterparts, even in instances of more serious sex offenses and those involving minor victims. Findings support theoretical arguments that contend that court decision-making is influenced by legally-irrelevant characteristics and raise questions about the source of gendered views of sex offenders and their effects on punishment approaches. Findings also raise questions about the virtue of get-tough sentencing policies that provide leeway for such dramatic variation across different groups of people.
Sexual violence against children in sports receives little
research attention. The aim of this Preferred Reporting Items
for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses-based systematic
literature review was to synthesize the up-to-date knowledge
and identify the already known and the still unknown information
in this area. The literature search yielded seven eligible
studies for inclusion. Their key outcomes suggest that sexual
violence against children in sports is prevalent. Girls are more
often the victims than boys, but gender appears to mediate
the disclosure. Minority groups are at higher risk for sexual
violence, and athletes at higher levels of competition seem to
be more vulnerable for grooming. While the coach is often
seen as the perpetrator, new research suggests that peer-athletes
may precede the coach. Disclosure is a problem, due to
personal and interpersonal concerns, which deters scholastic
research in this area. In the final section of the review, a “what
we know” and “what we need to know” list of highlights is
offered as the concluding summary of the review. These factual
points could raise the awareness of parents and/or guardians
about the vulnerability of their children to sexual abuse if they
are involved in sports. They could also attract the attention of
the policy makers to the urgent need of developing and
implementing preventive measures to make sports and exercise
environments pleasurable and safe for children.
Whereas there is a common assumption that most individuals with a criminal record can be eventually reintegrated into the community, the public has different expectations for sexual offenders. In many countries, individuals with a history of sexual offenses are subject to a wide range of long-term restrictions on housing and employment, as well as public notification measures intended to prevent them from merging unnoticed into the population of law-abiding citizens. This article examines the testable assumption that individuals with a history of sexual crime present an enduring risk for sexual recidivism. We modeled the long-term (25-year) risk of sexual recidivism in a large, combined sample (N > 7,000). We found that the likelihood of new sexual offenses declined the longer individuals with a history of sexual offending remain sexual offense free in the community. This effect was found for all age groups and all initial risk levels. Nonsexual offending during the follow-up period increased the risk of subsequent sexual recidivism independent of the time free effect. After 10 to 15 years, most individuals with a history of sexual offenses were no more likely to commit a new sexual offense than individuals with a criminal history that did not include sexual offenses. Consequently, policies designed to manage the risk of sexual recidivism need to include mechanisms to adjust initial risk classifications and determine time periods where individuals with a history of sexual crime should be released from the conditions and restrictions associated with the “sexual offender” label.
The Australian Royal Commission Into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has identified multiple systemic failures to protect children in government and non-government organizations providing educational, religious, welfare, sporting, cultural, arts and recreational activities. Its recommendations for reform will aim to ensure organizations adopt more effective and ethical measures to prevent, identify and respond to child sexual abuse. However, apart from the question of what measures institutions should adopt, an under-explored question is how to implement and regulate those measures. Major challenges confronting reform include the diversity of organizations providing services to children; organizational resistance; and the need for effective oversight. Failure to adopt theoretically sound strategies to overcome implementation barriers will jeopardize reform and compromise reduction of institutional child sexual abuse. This article first explains the nature of the Royal Commission, and focuses on key findings from case studies and data analysis. It then analyzes public health theory and regulatory theory to present a novel analysis of theoretically justified approaches to the implementation of measures to prevent, identify and respond to CSA, while isolating challenges to implementation. The article reviews literature on challenges to reform and compliance, and on prevention of institutional CSA and situational crime prevention, to identify measures which have attracted emerging consensus as recommended practice. Finally, it applies its novel integration of regulatory theory and public health theory to the context of CSA in institutional contexts, to develop a theoretical basis for a model of implementation and regulation, and to indicate the nature and functions of a regulatory body for this context.
Previous research has found differences in sexual behavior and types of sexual offending by offense category and racial/ethnic group. The present study examined effects of offense category, victim age, and race/ethnicity on sexual behavior. Data from 561 confined adolescents adjudicated for illegal sexual behavior (AISBs) and adolescents adjudicated for illegal nonsexual behavior (AINBs) were included in the present study. A hierarchical multinomial logistic regression was run to test whether sexual experiences and behaviors differentially predicted AINBs, AISBs with child victims, and AISBs with peer/adult victims. Results supported the utility of distinguishing AISBs by victim age. Comparisons between AISBs and AINBs indicated AISBs had more sexual abuse and were more sexually restricted, whereas AINBs reported more sexual behavior, reflecting a finding potentially mirroring sexual development, sexual experiences, and caregiver approaches to discussing sexuality. Over 60% of AINBs and 30% of AISBs reported behaviors that could be classified as distribution of child pornography. Within the group of AISBs, select racial/ethnic group differences emerged such that European American participants were more
Although it is often assumed that the prevalence of sexual harassment is different indifferent sports, the assumption has not been empirically tested. This study considers whether the experience of sexual harassment varies by sport. The female elite athletes (N = 553) in the study participated in 56 different sport disciplines. These were grouped as: 1) team or individual sports; 2) extent to which clothing required for competition is revealing; 3) gender structure (male- or female-dominated membership statistics); and 4) gender culture (masculine, gender-neutral or feminine). The data show that sexual harassment occurs in every sport group. Female elite athletes who participated in ‘masculine’ sports appear to experience more harassment than women in the other groups. We conclude that, when it comes to female athletes’ experiences of sexual harassment, sport type matters far less than sport participation per se.
This is the first study to report the prevalence of sexual violence perpetrated by a sport coach within a representative sample of the general population of adolescents aged between 14 and 17 years (N = 6,450). The questionnaire administered in high schools includes self-reported measures on a variety of dimensions relevant to the study of victimization, including sexual abuse, sexual contacts perceived as consensual, sexual harassment, and involvement in an organized sport context. Descriptive and chi-square analyses were performed. The results show that 0.5% of adolescents experienced sexual abuse involving a coach. When considering all adolescents who experienced sexual abuse in their lifetime (10.2%), it appears that 5.3% of them were victims of sexual abuse by a coach. Participants also reported experiencing sexual harassment from a coach (0.4%) and consensual sexual contacts (1.2%) with a coach in the 12 months preceding the study. Questions are raised on the overrepresentation of boys in situations of sexual victimization experiences in an organized sport context.
© The Author(s) 2015.
Sexual and physical abuse have been reported from all levels of sports. Associations between abuse victimization and sports injury have not been fully investigated.
To examine the lifetime prevalence of sexual and physical abuse in elite athletics athletes and explore associations with prevalence of athletics injuries.
Cross-sectional study using e-epidemiological survey methods.
Swedish male and female youth and adult elite athletics athletes.
Athletes ranked in the national top-15 with recorded email addresses (n=507) were invited. 198 (39%) athletes returned complete data.
Gender, age, sexual orientation, event group, lifetime physical abuse, lifetime sexual abuse (noncontact sexual abuse (indecent exposure), contact sexual abuse without penetration, penetrating sexual abuse) within and outside sports.
One-year prevalence of injury causing at least three consecutive weeks of full or partial time loss from athletics.
27 (14%) athletes reported lifetime exposure to sexual abuse and 36 (18%) athletes to physical abuse. More women than men (P=.005; Cramer's V=0.21) reported lifetime sexual abuse. Non-heterosexual athletes tended to more often be lifetime physical abuse victims than their heterosexual peers (P=.058). 6 (3%) athletes reported having been sexually abused in the athletics setting. The perpetrators of sexual abuse in athletics were both men and women extending from coaches to peers in mid-adolescence; two athletes reported suicidal ideation as a consequence of the abuse. The one-year prevalence of 3-week athletics injuries was higher for physical abuse victims among women (P=.021; Cramer's V=0.23), but not for male victims (P=.90). Sexual abuse was not found to be statistically associated with athletics injury.
Physical abuse victimization was associated with higher injury prevalence among female athletics athletes. Sexual and physical abuse victims are common in elite athletics and further studies of abuse, abuse victims, and abuse prevention are needed.
Sex offenders and sex crimes provoke a great deal of anxiety in our society, and over the past decade, lawmakers have passed a variety of social policies designed to protect the public from sexual victimization. The purpose of this study was to examine public perceptions about sex offenders and community protection policies. Data were obtained from a sample of 193 residents in Melbourne, Florida. It was hypothesized that the public holds some inaccurate beliefs about sex offenders, and that there is strong public support for community protection policies. It was found that community members believe that sex offenders have very high recidivism rates, view sex offenders as a homogeneous group with regard to risk, and are skeptical about the benefits of sex offender treatment. The hypothesis that public perceptions contradict empirical research was supported. Community members were overwhelmingly in favor of public disclosure of information about registered sex offenders, although they did not express as much support for residence restrictions. Implications for public policy, and for the media's role in shaping public perceptions, are discussed.
Recent increases in adolescent pregnancies have sparked a renewed impetus to identify risk factors, such as childhood sexual abuse (CSA), associated with adolescent pregnancy. Given mixed evidence regarding the strength of the relationship between CSA and adolescent pregnancy (Blinn-Pike, Berger, Dixon, Kuschel, & Kaplan, 2002), our objective was to provide an estimate of the effect size of this relationship using updated literature and meta-analytic techniques.
Meta-analyses of 21 studies were conducted using a random effects model of binary outcomes to determine aggregate effect-size estimates controlling for study heterogeneity.
CSA significantly increased the odds of experiencing an adolescent pregnancy by 2.21-fold (95% CI: 1.94-2.51). A supplemental analysis suggested that 4.5 out of 10 pregnant adolescents may have a prior history of CSA.
CSA places females at increased risk for subsequent adolescent pregnancy. Addressing conditions associated with CSA might impact the overall adolescent pregnancy rate.
Racial disparities in the U.S. juvenile justice system appear to be attenuated for people with sexual and violent versus drug and property offenses. Existing theories such as the racial threat hypothesis partially explain these racial disparities, but the definition of “threat” could limit our ability to explain juvenile justice outcomes across offense categories. Importantly, research often overlooks the different and unique threats associated with violent and sexual crimes. The present study examined impacts of racial threat and an expanded definition of “threat” associated with violent and sexual crime on (a) preadjudication detention and (b) dispositions of postadjudication confinement. Statewide archival court data were obtained regarding 212,274 male and female adolescents. In the full models, less severe violent (assault vs. homicide) and sexual offenses (indecent exposure and child pornography vs. sexual abuse) were associated with lower use of detention and secure confinement. This impact of specific violent and sexual offenses on court outcomes were observed in models run with Black adolescents and models separated by violent offenses and sexual offenses. Higher rates of county-level homicide prosecutions and White-to-Black unemployment were significantly and positively associated with detention and confinement, respectively. Racial threat and other theories aiming to explain racial disparities should be reexamined and modified to include markers of violent and sexual offense stigma and threat. Further, models testing racial disparities should include an expanded definition of “threat” in selecting indicators. Our suggested modified theory could better elucidate racial disparities in the juvenile justice system and presents important practice implications.
Low rates of reporting sexual assault to law enforcement have been attributed to a culture of rape myth acceptance. Yet, rape myth acceptance rates and specific barriers to reporting have not been examined by sexual assault and reporting histories. This study compared the rape myth acceptance levels of reporting survivors, non-reporting survivors, and individuals without sexual assault histories. The sample consisted of 579 undergraduate students (68.0% White, 72.5% women) at a public university in the southeastern U.S. Differences in non-reporting survivors' experienced barriers to reporting and the perceived barriers of those without sexual assault histories were also examined. Results indicate differences in rape myth endorsement by sexual assault and reporting status, with the highest rape myth adherence rates endorsed by individuals without a sexual assault history and the lowest endorsed by reporting survivors. While non-reporting survivors and those without sexual assault histories shared two of the top three barriers to reporting (i.e., wanted to avoid thinking or talking about it, did not want family or friends to find out), non-reporting survivors were more likely to endorse personal reasons for not reporting, and those without sexual assault histories were more likely to endorse concerns about the law enforcement response to rape. Several barrier factors were identified among non-reporting survivors (i.e., fear of law enforcement involvement, personal reasons, ambiguity of the event, responsibility) and among individuals without sexual assault histories (i.e., risks outweigh benefits, victim blaming, ambiguity). Although both survivors and individuals without sexual assault histories acknowledge the personal, social, and legal risks of reporting a sexual assault to law enforcement, survivors' experienced barriers differed in nuanced ways from the presumed barriers of individuals without sexual assault histories. Findings may enhance sexual assault prevention trainings and awareness campaigns by targeting both rape myth beliefs and specific barriers to reporting of those with and without sexual assault histories.
Research suggests children from non-White and Hispanic/Latinx communities are at higher risk for child maltreatment. This study identified in which states children from specific non-White communities were overrepresented in child protective services reports for child physical, sexual, and emotional/psychological abuse through exploratory mapping. Reports on child maltreatment originated from the 2018 National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System and state-level population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. Racial disparities were identified in states with unequal proportions of reported child maltreatment among a non-White child population compared to the proportion among the White child population. We found disparities for children from non-White communities in many states, especially for Black communities (Disparity Ratio [DR]: 15.10 for child physical abuse, DR: 12.77 for child sexual abuse in Washington DC, and DR: 5.25 for child emotional/psychological abuse in California). The ability to identify high disparities among Pacific Islanders highlights one of the study’s strengths, given we separately examined Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders and multiracial communities. Results from our exploratory mapping provide insight into how preventive resources might be differentially allocated to non-White communities with higher child protective services reporting compared with White communities, and manifest states with multiple non-White communities overrepresented across maltreatment types.
Sexual misconduct in society is found throughout the literature. In healthcare, there is a paucity of research in regard to the understanding of what constitutes sexual misconduct, especially when examining the thoughts of students who are required to be a part of a clinical rotation. The purpose of this study was to examine athletic training students' perceptions of sexual harassment and to determine whether role (i.e., peer student, athlete, preceptor, coach) influenced their determination of what constitutes sexual harassment. A 21-item scenario questionnaire was sent to the 460 professional and post-professional Commission on the Accreditation of Athletic Training Education (CAATE) program directors with a link to forward to the current students. The scenarios were used to understand the students' level of where an action by a peer athletic training student, athlete, preceptor, or coach might fall on the sexual misconduct continuum. Results demonstrated that athletic training students tended to be more for-giving toward peers or athletes than preceptors or coaches. In order for clinical students to feel safe in their rotations, a greater understanding of what constitutes sexual misconduct must occur.
In the evolution of efforts to reduce child sexual abuse (CSA) rates in the United States, there has been a gradual shift to add preventive measures to after-the-fact interventions (i.e., interventions and policies implemented after the abuse has already happened, such as services and treatment for victims and punishment, treatment, and management of offenders). Prevention of CSA perpetration, however, is often missing from these efforts, despite decades of experts calling for broader prevention solutions. The current paper describes the scope of the problem of CSA, highlights problems with an over-reliance on after-the-fact interventions, and describes promising perpetration-focused CSA prevention interventions. While most existing preventive efforts focus on teaching children to protect themselves from incurring sexual harm, perpetration prevention efforts may hold more promise by addressing the onset of harmful behavior. As such, perpetration prevention efforts can contribute to a more robust and comprehensive approach to CSA – an approach that focuses on prevention of harm from occurring in the first place, as well as responding once harm has occurred.
This study examines effects of court and community contextual factors on sentencing outcomes for individuals convicted of sexual crimes using indicators from two perspectives—focal concerns and populist punitiveness. Sourced from the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing, the sample includes 9,431 persons convicted of sexual crimes and a precision-matched sample of persons convicted of non-sexual violent crimes for comparison. Based on multilevel hurdle regression models for both incarceration and sentence length decisions, results indicate that individuals convicted of sexual crimes face enhanced sentence severity in judicial districts with smaller courts, increased jail capacity, stronger political competition, and higher religious homogeneity. The results also suggest statistically significant differences between effects for persons convicted of sexual crimes and a matched sample of persons convicted of violent crimes. Overall, results suggest that specific contextual factors have a distinguishable impact on sentencing of individuals convicted of sexual crimes.
The present study provides an estimate of the U.S. economic impact of child sexual abuse (CSA). Costs of CSA were measured from the societal perspective and include health care costs, productivity losses, child welfare costs, violence/crime costs, special education costs, and suicide death costs. We separately estimated quality-adjusted life year (QALY) losses. For each category, we used the best available secondary data to develop cost per case estimates. All costs were estimated in U.S. dollars and adjusted to the reference year 2015. Estimating 20 new cases of fatal and 40,387 new substantiated cases of nonfatal CSA that occurred in 2015, the lifetime economic burden of CSA is approximately 1,128,334 and 282,734 per female victim. For male victims of nonfatal CSA, there was insufficient information on productivity losses, contributing to a lower average estimated lifetime cost of 40,000 per victim. With the exception of male productivity losses, all estimates were based on robust, replicable incidence-based costing methods. The availability of accurate, up-to-date estimates should contribute to policy analysis, facilitate comparisons with other public health problems, and support future economic evaluations of CSA-specific policy and practice. In particular, we hope the availability of credible and contemporary estimates will support increased attention to primary prevention of CSA.
Despite progress in recent years on understanding the magnitude of the problem of interpersonal violence against athletes in the sport context, this research area is still very understudied. Yet, many researchers have advocated for the urgent need to carry out prevalence studies in this field to base prevention efforts on empirical evidence and to convince public decision makers about the necessity to address this issue. The present paper widens the focus on violence in sport, beyond the traditional player and spectator violence literature. We present recent prevalence data on less studied issues, such as sexual, physical and psychological violence against athletes, in and outside the field, and from coaches, opponents and teammates.
Purpose
In one of the most impactful studies of perceptions of sex offender legislation, respondents claimed that they would support the laws, “even if there is no scientific evidence showing that they reduce sexual abuse” (Levenson, Brannon, Fortney, & Baker, 2007). The present research experimentally tested that assertion across two samples of Alabama residents.
Methods
In both samples, an experimental group was informed that, “There is no conclusive scientific evidence showing that sex offender registries or notification laws reduce sexual abuse.” All respondents were then asked about community notification statutes.
Results
Support was high among all respondents (regardless of the experimental prompt) and did not differ significantly based on demographic characteristics. Males were more likely than females to perceive some policies as effective. Parents reported that they would feel significantly more fear and anger if a sex offender moved into their neighborhood than did non-parents.
Conclusions
These findings suggest that: 1.) despite their limited instrumental impact, sex offender laws hold symbolic value to the public, 2.) more research is needed to further understand demographic differences in perceptions of sex offender policies, and 3.) perhaps public education must precede an effective attempt at implementing evidence-based sex offender legislation.
Purpose
To estimate the likelihood that a recent cohort of children would be exposed to sexual abuse and sexual assault by age 17 in the United States.
Methods
This analysis draws on three very similarly designed national telephone surveys of youth in 2003, 2008, and 2011, resulting in a pooled sample of 708 17-year-olds, 781 15-year-olds, and 804 16-year-olds.
Results
The lifetime experience of 17-year-olds with sexual abuse and sexual assault was 26.6% (95% confidence interval [CI] 19.8–33.5) for girls and 5.1% (95% CI 2.6–7.6) for boys. The lifetime experience with sexual abuse and sexual assault at the hands of adult perpetrators exclusively was 11.2% (95% CI 6.4–16.1) for females and 1.9% (95% CI .5–3.4) for males. For females, considerable risk for sexual abuse and assault was concentrated in late adolescence, as the rate rose from 16.8% (95% CI 11.5–22.2) for 15-year-old females to 26.6% (95% CI 19.8–33.5) for 17-year-old females. For males, it rose from 4.3% (95% CI 1.9–6.8) at 15 years to 5.1% (2.6–7.6) at 17 years.
Conclusions
Self-report surveys in late adolescence reveal high rates of lifetime experience with sexual abuse and sexual assault at the hands of both adults and peers. Because of high continuing victimization during the late teen years, assessments are most complete when conducted among the oldest youth.
This article reports the first phase of a three-phase research programme investigating the prevalence and long-term sequelae associated with sexual abuse in a non-psychiatric sample of male and female Australian athletes. A cross-sectional, retrospective design, using a mailed survey, provided a quantitative assessment of sexual abuse prevalence in a national sample of elite athletes and a regional sample of club athletes. Results from the total sample (n = 370) revealed that 31% of female and 21% of male athletes reported experiencing sexual abuse at some time in their lives. Of these, 41% of females, and 29% of males had been sexually abused within the sports environment. It was also found that almost half, 46.4%, of the elite group reporting sexual abuse had been sexually abused by sports personnel. For the club group, this figure was 25.6%. Implications of these results and current initiatives for the prevention of sexual abuse of athletes in Australia are discussed.
We explore the role of programs for prevention for sexual harassment and abuse in sport in Canada, specifically in the Province of Quebec, by first describing the international sport context of sexual harassment and abuse and then considering the needs of disabled and gay athletes. We have found that there is little scientific literature on sexual harassment and abuse that focuses on the vulnerabilities of, or specific prevention measures for, disabled or LGBT athletes. Such gaps in the literature make it difficult to evaluate the full effectiveness of sexual harassment and abuse intervention programs. To highlight this issue, we describe some of the prevention programs in use in Canada, specifically in the Province of Quebec, and locate program gaps around athletes identified as vulnerable in both the international and Canadian contexts. Finally, we conclude by pressing the need for research and policy advocacy to close the prevention program gaps and to ensure protection is offered to all athletes, not just “mainstream” athletes
As sport is a highly child-populated domain, the establishment of child-protection measures to reduce the potential for child maltreatment in sport is critical. Concern for the protection of children in sport has a history that is as old as modern sport itself; however, it is only recently that concern has been established about children's experiences of relational forms of abuse and neglect in this domain. The purpose of this article, therefore, is to review current developments in sport with respect to child-protection policy, education, and research. It is the authors' supposition that an athlete-centered philosophy of sport is perhaps the best way to address the protection of children in sport. The philosophy of an athlete-centered sport model is described, and through the integration of an athlete-centered approach to sport, recommendations are made for future implementation of child-protection measures.
Like the new social movements, crime victim movements were part of broad cultural struggles to redefine the character of social order in the late twentieth century. Motivated by pain and outrage over criminal victimization, they were engaged in highly charged moral protests over the rights and duties of state government and the relative value of human life. This article argues that the degree to which crime victims were part of a retributive movement—the restriction of criminal offenders' rights and liberties—or part of a restorative movement to repair victims' well-being depended on the political context in which they were operating, specifically the structure of the democratic process. The case studies suggest that a context with a high degree of democratization but intensive social polarization was more likely to deepen crime victims' demands for vengeance as well as provide their legal and political expression, while a context with intensive civic engagement but well-developed social trust and norms of reciprocity was more likely to bring about pragmatic measures, intermixing restorative and restrictive approaches to criminal victimization. This article seeks to extend the literature on political institutionalism by integrating the structural constraints of institutions with the power of human agency.
This article reports on an online survey of child protection training for students on sport-related and Initial Teacher Training Physical Education degrees, and on the views of recently graduated teachers of the usefulness of such training in their everyday work. The results indicate that child protection training is provided in most courses but in varying amounts. Respondents to the survey reported positively, in the main, about the effects of new requirements for teacher training (Every Child Matters: Change for Children, Department for Education and Skills, 2004). Reasons given for not including child protection in courses were: lack of time; the perceived vocational nature of the topic; lack of fit with course aims and objectives; lack of relevance; and the research rather than professional orientation of the course. Recently graduated teachers' views on their pre-service child protection training differed from the claims made about this in the survey. In particular, they raised concerns about their lack of preparation for dealing with potential child protection situations. The article concludes that child protection training within sport-related degrees is deficient in both consistency of delivery and in content, and that, in addition to preparing students to recognise signs and indicators of abuse, curricula should also address undergraduates' confidence and skills for responding to abuse in their everyday professional practice. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
This 15-year prospective, longitudinal study examines adolescent and young-adult female self-reports of traumatic sexual and physical experiences occurring subsequent to substantiated childhood sexual abuse-revictimizations (N=89).
These incidences were contrasted to sexual and physical victimizations reported by a group of non-abused comparison females (N=90).
Abused females were almost twice as likely to have experienced sexual revictimization (odds=1.99+/-2.79, p<.05), and physical revictimization (odds=1.96+/-2.58, p<.05) as compared to victimization rates reported by comparison females. Abused females' revictimizations were also more likely to have been perpetrated by older, non-peers and characterized by physical injury than were victimizations reported by comparison females.
Early childhood sexual abuse may provide information regarding the level of risk for recurrent sexual and physical victimization.
Professionals in child health, primary care, mental health, schools, social services, and law-enforcement services all contribute to the recognition of and response to child maltreatment. In all sectors, children suspected of being maltreated are under-reported to child-protection agencies. Lack of awareness of the signs of child maltreatment and processes for reporting to child-protection agencies, and a perception that reporting might do more harm than good, are among the reasons for not reporting. Strategies to improve recognition, mainly used in paediatric practice, include training, use of questionnaires for asking children and parents about maltreatment, and evidence-based guidelines for who should be assessed by child-protection specialists. Internationally, studies suggest that policies emphasising substantiation of maltreatment without concomitant attention to welfare needs lead to less service provision for maltreated children than do those in systems for which child maltreatment is part of a broad child and family welfare response.
OBJECTIVE To provide clinicians with current information on prevalence, risk factors, outcomes, treatment, and prevention of child sexual abuse (CSA). To examine the best-documented examples of psychopathology attributable to CSA. METHOD Computer literature searches of and for key words. All English-language articles published after 1989 containing empirical data pertaining to CSA were reviewed. RESULTS CSA constitutes approximately 10% of officially substantiated child maltreatment cases, numbering approximately 88,000 in 2000. Adjusted prevalence rates are 16.8% and 7.9% for adult women and men, respectively. Risk factors include gender, age, disabilities, and parental dysfunction. A range of symptoms and disorders has been associated with CSA, but depression in adults and sexualized behaviors in children are the best-documented outcomes. To date, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) of the child and a nonoffending parent is the most effective treatment. Prevention efforts have focused on child education to increase awareness and home visitation to decrease risk factors. CONCLUSIONS CSA is a significant risk factor for psychopathology, especially depression and substance abuse. Preliminary research indicates that CBT is effective for some symptoms, but longitudinal follow-up and large-scale "effectiveness" studies are needed. Prevention programs have promise, but evaluations to date are limited.
Sex offender registration and community notification laws: An empirical evaluation
- W Logan
- J J Prescott
Logan, W., & Prescott, J. J. (2021). Sex offender registration and community notification laws:
An empirical evaluation. Cambridge University Press.
Young players, blurred boundaries and a coach on the move
- T Panja
- R Molina
Panja, T., & Molina, R. (2020). Young players, blurred boundaries and a coach on the move.
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