Sex-Typed Role in Male Adolescent Sexual Abuse Survivors

• NCJ Number: 141489
• Journal: Journal of Family Violence Volume: 8 Issue: 1 Dated: (March 1993) Pages: 89-100
• Author(s): M F Richardson; W Meredith; D A Abbot
• Date Published: 1993
• Length: 12 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This article reports on a study that examined the relationships between sexual abuse of male adolescents and their sexual self-concept in comparison to other clinical and nonclinical adolescent populations.

Abstract

The BEM Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI) was administered to 31 sexually abused male adolescents; 14 nonabused, psychiatrically treated male adolescents; and 35 nonabused, nonpsychiatric male adolescents. The BSRI provides scores based on self-endorsement of descriptive attributes using a Likert-like 7-point scale. Following the procedure recommended by Bem (1981), subjects were classified into one of four categorical groups based on a median split of the masculine and feminine score for all subjects: masculine, feminine, androgynous, and undifferentiated. Demographic data were collected on the abused and psychiatric subgroups from client and client records by agency personnel. Results of a four by two chi-square analysis showed that the abused subjects did differ from the nonabused, nonpsychiatric subjects in sex-typed role. The study found that apparently the sexually abused male adolescent subjects were more strongly undifferentiated in their sex-typed role than the nonabused, nonpsychiatric subjects, who were more masculine in their sex-typed role. The sexually abused and nonabused, psychiatrically treated male adolescents did not differ significantly in sex-typed roles. The statistically significant increase in those sexually abused subjects scoring undifferentiated in sex-typed role would indicate a poorly developed sex-typed role and sexual self-concept confusion. The undifferentiated sex-typed roles of the abused group, however, had been present for some time and actually predisposed the subject to the abuse. Sex offenders often describe their victims as weak, defenseless, and easily controlled and manipulated; they avoid the child that actively refuses or resists. These predisposing characteristics are not stereotypically masculine. 1 table and 30 references