School Professionals' Attributions of Blame in a Case of Child Sexual Maltreatment.

Sixty-eight teachers and 62 school psychologists from California and Tennessee were compared on attributions of behavioral and characterological blame to individuals involved in a hypothetical case of father-daughter incest. A child-victim responded in an encouraging, passive, or resistant manner to her father's sexual advances, and Attitudes toward Women Scale (AWS) scores were assessed for prediction of blame. Respondents' confidence that child sexual maltreatment (CSM) occurred in the hypothetical case, their beliefs regarding its likelihood, and their probability of reporting it were assessed along with demographic characteristics, and training, education and involvement in CSM. Teachers and psychologists assigned the majority of both types of blame to the father; however, both groups also blamed the child. Professional position nor victim response affected blame attributed to the child, despite psychologists reporting higher estimates of likelihood, reporting, education, training, and CSM involvement. Traditional women blamed the victim and mother more, and likelihood and confidence predicted AWS scores. The majority of participants would report the case; however, Californians and psychologists reported higher probabilities of reporting, while Tennessee teachers reported lower probabilities of reporting. (Author)