Understanding teachers' reporting of child sexual abuse : measurement methods matter

The present study considered factors influencing teachers' reporting of child sexual abuse (CSA). Conducted in three Australian jurisdictions with different reporting laws and policies, the study focused on teachers' actual past and anticipated future reporting of CSA. A sample of 470 teachers within randomly selected rural and urban schools was surveyed, to identify training and experience; knowledge of reporting legislation and policy; attitudes; and reporting practices. Factors influencing actual past reporting and anticipated future reporting were identified using logistic regression modelling. This is the first study to simultaneously examine the effect of important influences in reporting practice using both retrospective and prospective approaches across jurisdictions with different reporting laws. Teachers who have actually reported CSA in the past are more likely have higher levels of policy knowledge, and hold more positive attitudes towards reporting CSA along three specific dimensions: commitment to the reporting role; confidence in the system's effective response to their reporting; and they are more likely to be able to override their concerns about the consequences of their reporting. Teachers indicating intention to report hypothetical scenarios are more likely to hold reasonable grounds for suspecting CSA, to recognise that significant harm has been caused to the child, to know that their school policy requires a report, and to be able to override their concerns about the consequences of their reporting.

What would it take to optimise young people’s sexual health? A conversational journey with youth workers

Marginalised young people have been consistently identified as a high risk group in relation to sexual health. This research, undertaken through the Youth Affairs Network of Queensland, seeks to explore impacts on youth workers’ ability to provide effective interventions around sexual health? What knowledge,skills, resources, value and ethics, training and support is available to youth workers? What do youth workers identify that they need and what workforce development strategies are recommended to enable the youth sector to respond more effectively? This project report provides a snapshot and introduction to the key themes raised by youth workers and other key stakeholders in Queensland Australia.

Exploratory factor analysis and psychometric evaluation of the Teachers Reporting Attitude Scale for Child Sexual Abuse

This paper presents an evaluation of an instrument to measure teachers’ attitudes towards reporting child sexual abuse and discusses the instrument’s merit for research into reporting practice. Based on responses from 444 Australian teachers, the Teachers’ Reporting Attitude Scale for Child Sexual Abuse (TRAS - CSA) was evaluated using exploratory factor analysis. The scale isolated three dimensions: commitment to the reporting role; confidence in the system’s response to reports; and concerns about reporting. These three factors accounted for 37.5% of the variance in the 14-item measure. Alpha coefficients for the subscales were 0.769 (commitment), 0.617 (confidence), and 0.661 (concerns). The findings provide insights into the complexity of studying teachers’ attitudes towards reporting of child sexual abuse, and have implications for future research.

Impact of physical, psychological, and sexual violence on social adjustment of school children in India

and sexual violence on the social adjustment of Grade 8 and 9 school children in the state of Tripura, India. The study participants, 160 boys and 160 girls, were randomly selected from classes in eight English and Bengali medium schools in Agartala city, Tripura. Data were collected using a self-administered Semi-structured Questionnaire for Children/Students and a Social Adjustment Inventory which were custom-made for the study based on measures in the extant research adapted for the Indian context. Findings revealed that students experienced physical (21.9%), psychological (20.9%), and sexual (18.1%) violence at home, and 29.7% of the children had witnessed family violence. Boys were more often victims of physical and psychological violence while girls were more often victims of sexual violence. The social adjustment scores of school children who experienced violence, regardless of the nature of the violence, was significantly lower when compared with scores of those who had not experienced violence (p<0.001). Social adjustment was poorer for girls than boys (p<0.001). The study speaks in favour of early detection and intervention for all child maltreatment subtypes and for children exposed to interparental violence, and highlights the crucial role of schools and school psychology in addressing the problem.

Urban, suburban, and rural variations in separation/divorce rape/sexual assault : results from the National Crime Victimization Survey

To date, no large study has looked at whether separation/divorce sexual assault varies across urban, suburban, and rural areas. The authors use 1992-2009 NCVS (National Crime Victimization Survey) data to estimate the percentage of separation/divorce sexual assault against women in urban, suburban, and rural communities. In addition, the authors identify and compare the relative risk of sexual assault victimization for women across areas. Findings indicate that a higher percentage of rural divorced/separated women were victims of rape/sexual assault than were urban divorced/separated women. In addition, rural separated women are victims of intimate rape/sexual assault at significantly higher rates than their suburban and urban counterparts.

Physical and linkage maps for Drosophila serrata, a model species for studies of clinal adaptation and sexual selection

Drosophila serrata is a member of the montium group, which contains more than 98 species and until recently was considered a subgroup within the melanogaster group. This Drosophila species is an emerging model system for evolutionary quantitative genetics and has been used in studies of species borders, clinal variation and sexual selection. Despite the importance of D. serrata as a model for evolutionary research, our poor understanding of its genome remains a significant limitation. Here, we provide a first-generation gene-based linkage map and a physical map for this species. Consistent with previous studies of other drosophilids we observed strong conservation of genes within chromosome arms homologous with D. melanogaster but major differences in within-arm synteny. These resources will be a useful complement to ongoing genome sequencing efforts and QTL mapping studies in this species

An expressed sequence tag (EST) library for Drosophila serrata, a model system for sexual selection and climatic adaptation studies

The native Australian fly Drosophila serrata belongs to the highly speciose montium subgroup of the melanogaster species group. It has recently emerged as an excellent model system with which to address a number of important questions, including the evolution of traits under sexual selection and traits involved in climatic adaptation along latitudinal gradients. Understanding the molecular genetic basis of such traits has been limited by a lack of genomic resources for this species. Here, we present the first expressed sequence tag (EST) collection for D. serrata that will enable the identification of genes underlying sexually-selected phenotypes and physiological responses to environmental change and may help resolve controversial phylogenetic relationships within the montium subgroup.

Policing visible sexual/gender diversity as a program of governance

Using interview data on LGBT young people’s policing experiences, I argue policing and security works as a program of government (Dean 1999; Foucault 1991; Rose 1999) that constrains the visibilities of diverse sexuality and gender in public spaces. While young people narrated police actions as discriminatory, the interactions were complex and multi‐faceted with police and security working to subtly constrain the public visibilities of ‘queerness’. Same sex affection, for instance, was visibly yet unverifiably (Mason 2002) regulated by police as a method of governing the boundaries of proper gender and sexuality in public. The paper concludes by noting how the visibility of police interactions with LGBT young people demonstrates to the public that public spaces are, and should remain, heterosexual spaces.

Behavioural beliefs concerning gender and high-risk sexual behaviours in the context of HIV/AIDS in PNG : views from within teacher education

Education is often viewed as a key approach to address sexual-health issues; the current concern is the burgeoning HIV/AIDS epidemic. This ethnographic study investigates the gender practices associated with high-risk sexual behaviour in Papua New Guinea as viewed by educators there. A number of practices, including gender inequality and associated sexual behaviours have been highlighted by male and female participants as escalating PNG’s HIV/AIDS epidemic. The study finds that although participants were well-informed concerning HIV/AIDS, they had varying beliefs concerning the prevailing gender/sexual issues involved in escalating highrisk behaviour and how to address the problem. The study further examines the behavioural beliefs and intentions of the educators themselves. Subsequently, within the data a number of underpinning factors, pertaining to gender, education and life experience, were found to be related to the behaviour beliefs and intentions of participants towards embracing change with regard to behaviours associated with gender equality in PNG. These factors appeared to encourage participants to adopt healthier gender and sexual behavioural intentions and, arguably, could provide the basis for ways to help address the gender inequality and high-risk behaviours associated with HIV/AIDS in PNG.

Relationships and sexual health promotion project for QUT international students

International students may experience a variety of sexual health problems which include unplanned pregnancies, abortions and sexually transmitted diseases. These are often because of limited knowledge of sexual health matters and lack of sexual health education and/or access to health services in their home country. A study was undertaken to identify the concerns of international students and how to provide culturally appropriate promotion of sexual health for international students at Queensland University of Technology (QUT). The project included consultations with stakeholders, interviews with key informants, an online survey and focus group discussions with international students. The project found that sexual health is a concern for international students, particularly in developing relationships and when becoming sexually active in Australia, and there is a perceived lack of access to health services and insufficient knowledge on sexual health matters. Preferred methods of dissemination of sexual health information included use of student mentors, web-based online resources, brochures and confidential on-line advice.

Allegations of child sexual abuse in family court cases : a qualitative analysis of psychiatric evidence

Allegations of child sexual abuse in Family Court cases have gained increasing attention. The study investigates factors involved in Family Court cases involving allegations of child sexual abuse. A qualitative methodology was employed to examine Records of Judgement and Psychiatric Reports for 20 cases distilled from the data corpus of 102 cases. A seven-stage methodology was developed utilising a thematic analysis process informed by principles of grounded theory and phenomenology. The explication of eight thematic clusters was undertaken. The findings point to complex issues and dynamics in which child sexual abuse allegations have been raised. The alleging parent’s allegations of sexual abuse against their ex-partner may be: the expression of unconscious deep fears for their children’s welfare, or an action to meet their needs for personal affirmation in the context of the painful upheaval of a relationship break-up. Implications of the findings are discussed.

Framing sexual harassment through media representations

This article examines mainstream news media texts reporting sexual harassment in four industrialized countries. The study first identifies the aspects of sexual harassment cases considered newsworthy by asking how the media texts characterize such cases. Second, the study illuminates the discourses evident in these texts, which are theorized as a mode by which understandings of workplace gender (in)equality shape, and are shaped by, individuals, organizations and the community. The analysis reveals that the media most frequently reports “classic” sexual harassment and emphasizes scandalous allegations and overtly sexualized conduct. The hegemony of a discourse of sexual harassment as an individualized problem of inappropriate employee behavior is also evident. By contrast, discourses presenting sexual harassment as a systemic issue, or as symptomatic of broader gender inequality, are less frequent. We argue that these media representations limit opportunities to frame sexual harassment as dynamic, complex, and part of the practice of gendering in and beyond organizational boundaries.

Clergy Sexual Abuse Litigation: Survivors Seeking Justice By Jennifer M. Balboni (Boulder: First Forum Press, 2011, 180pp. £43.77)

Balboni identifies her interest as being the processes of official disclosure and the path taken to civil litigation by survivors of child sexual abuse by Roman Catholic Clergy. The empirical data, on which this work is based, come in the form of in-depth face-to-face interviews with 22 survivors of clergy sexual abuse who have pursued litigation and 13 of their advocates. Balboni provides a space for survivors’ accounts of the ‘why’ behind their decision making and the impact of civil litigation on their lives to be heard, discussed and contextualized with both clarity and sensitivity. She acknowledges the breadth and depth of survivor responses, and the perspectives of their legal advocates, employing defiance theory, symbolic interaction and other points of analysis, to capture the journey of survivors towards litigation and beyond. Balboni’s work is deeply poignant in its recognition of survivors’ voices, the complex transformative capacity of litigation, the effects of community forming amongst survivors and the complex nature of ‘empowerment’ obtained by survivors through civil litigation. Acknowledging that, for many survivors, litigation becomes a means of identity change and truth telling, Balboni admits that ‘these survivors helped me understand that litigation is more about voice than monetary settlement’ (p. 149). This work is not deeply analytical or theoretically rich but privileges the voices of survivors and their advocates with sufficient frameworks to contextualize and explain participants’ perspectives and experiences.