Child sexual abuse: who is to blame?

This study utilized written descriptions of sexual activity between an adult and a child to examine the impact of victim sex, perpetrator sex, respondent sex, and victim response (i.e., encouraging, passive, resisting) on the attribution of responsibility to the child and the adult perpetrator. A total of 360 college undergraduates (male = 180; female = 180) participated in the study. A main effect for victim response indicated that respondents attributed significantly more responsibility to the child and significantly less responsibility to the perpetrator when the child was described as encouraging the encounter. Children who remained passive were also held significantly more responsible than those who resisted, but there was not a significant difference between resisting and passive conditions in ratings of responsibility to the perpetrator. Several significant interactions affected ratings of responsibility to the perpetrator. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of the need for educational programs to raise public awareness about the helplessness felt by sexual abuse victims and the needs of male victims in particular.