ABSTRACT

Child sexual abuse myths legitimize abusive behaviors, involving high levels of victim blame and low levels of offender liability. The present study aims to: (i) adapt a measure of endorsement of child sexual abuse myths to the Portuguese context (i.e., Child Sexual Abuse Myth Scale – CSAMS); and (ii) provide validity and reliability evidence for this measure. A total of 423 adults (66.2% female) filled out a sociodemographic questionnaire, the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory, and the CSAMS. The CSAMS validity and reliability results supported the original structure, which comprises three dimensions: Blame Diffusion (e.g., ‘Adolescent girls who wear very revealing clothing are asking to be sexually abused’), Restrictive Stereotypes (e.g., ‘Most children are sexually abused by strangers or by men who are not well known to the child’), and Denial of Abusiveness (e.g., ‘Older children, who have a better understanding of sexual matters, have a responsibility to actively resist sexual advances by adults’). Configural and metric invariance by sex were held, and criterion validity was observed through significant associations between myths, sexism and sex. This study provided evidence in support of the validity and reliability of the Portuguese version of the Child Sexual Abuse Myth Scale.

摘要

儿童性虐待神话使虐待行为合法化，涉及到高水平的受害人责任和低水平的罪犯责任。本研究旨在：（i）使对儿童性虐待神话的认可方法适应葡萄牙的情况（即，儿童性虐待神话量表-CSAMS）；（ii）提供此措施的有效性和可靠性证据。总共423名成年人（女性占66.2％）填写了社会人口统计学调查表，两性性别歧视清单和CSAMS。CSAMS的有效性和可靠性结果支持原始结构，该结构包括三个方面：责备扩散（例如，“穿着显露衣服的少女要求性虐待”），刻板印象（例如，“大多数儿童受到性虐待）陌生人或孩子不认识的人'），否认虐待行为（例如，“对性问题有更好理解的大龄儿童有责任积极抵抗成年人的性行为”）。保持性别的结构和度量不变，并通过神话，性别歧视和性别之间的显着关联来观察标准的有效性。这项研究提供了支持葡萄牙版《儿童性虐待神话》量表的有效性和可靠性的证据。