To See or Not to See a Sexually Abused Child in a Picture

This investigation comprises five studies of factors determining adults' interpretations of a picture (Threat), drawn to represent sexual abuse of a child. The sexes of the two persons in the picture were on purpose drawn ambiguously. In Study I, the Threat picture was interpreted by 515 undergraduates in three experiments, all resulting in the same four interpretation categories, and similar frequencies. About 75% of the participants described the picture as child sexual abuse, while the other participants described the picture as a sexual relation between adults, or as a problematic, or a safe relationship between a child and an adult - the last two groups without any sexual allusion. Those in the categories, child sexual abuse or a problematic situation, reported anxiety increase after having interpreted the picture. It was also concluded that a way of defending oneself against the threat to the child, was to interpret the child's sex as opposite to one's own. The interpretations of the Threat-picture were further studied in relation to personality and empathy (Study II); reported psychological maltreatment in childhood and attitudes towards sexuality (Study III); and coping styles and dissociation (Study IV). Only for dissociation was it possible to state significant differences between the four interpretation groups, with the highest value for the group that saw a sexual relation between adults. Those who attributed their own sex to the child, which was considered as an identification with the child, reported significantly high on the personality scales, Somatic Anxiety, Psychic Anxiety, Guilt and on Empathy. As regards coping, they scored significantly the lowest on Cognitive-Restructuring, the highest on Wishful-Thinking, and the highest on Dissociation. In a multi-variate regression analysis (Study III), psychological maltreatment in childhood was related to Somatic Anxiety, which in its turn was related to the inclination to identify with the child. The Threat-picture was also interpreted by 321 undergraduates, studying to become professionals in the human services (Study V). This group described the picture as child sexual abuse significantly less than undergraduates in general did. Finally, a new group of 101 participants were informed in advance of the intended meaning of the Threat-picture (Study V). It was 85 % of the participants who agreed with the proposal that the picture represented child sexual abuse.