ABSTRACT

Child sexual abuse is a prevalent problem within our communities, yet policies that address it are mostly responsive rather than preventive. Given its impact on victims, it is important to move toward secondary prevention strategies, such as targeting individuals at higher risk for offending due to their sexual interest in minors, but who have yet to offend, and providing them with the resources needed to remain offense-free. This strategy is hindered by stigma, which prevents minor attracted persons (MAPs) from self-identifying. To dispel that stigma, the present study aimed to assess public attitudes toward MAPs and determine whether they could be changed by reading a psychoeducational text about MAPs. Analysis revealed that reading the text was associated with more negative attitudes. Findings are discussed as they pertain to the development of an anti-stigma intervention for MAPs.

摘要

儿童性虐待是我们社区中的一个普遍问题，但解决它的政策大多是响应性的，而不是预防性的。鉴于其对受害者的影响，重要的是转向二级预防策略，例如针对因对未成年人有性兴趣而犯罪风险较高但尚未犯罪的个人，并为他们提供保持犯罪所需的资源-自由。这种策略受到污名的阻碍，污名会阻止未成年人被吸引的人 (MAP) 进行自我识别。为了消除这种耻辱，本研究旨在评估公众对 MAP 的态度，并确定是否可以通过阅读有关 MAP 的心理教育文本来改变这种态度。分析表明，阅读文本与更多的消极态度有关。