A dynastic elite in monumental Neolithic society.

The nature and distribution of political power in Europe during the Neolithic era remains poorly understood1. During this period, many societies began to invest heavily in building monuments, which suggests an increase in social organization. The scale and sophistication of megalithic architecture along the Atlantic seaboard, culminating in the great passage tomb complexes, is particularly impressive2. Although co-operative ideology has often been emphasised as a driver of megalith construction1, the human expenditure required to erect the largest monuments has led some researchers to emphasize hierarchy3-of which the most extreme case is a small elite marshalling the labour of the masses. Here we present evidence that a social stratum of this type was established during the Neolithic period in Ireland. We sampled 44 whole genomes, among which we identify the adult son of a first-degree incestuous union from remains that were discovered within the most elaborate recess of the Newgrange passage tomb. Socially sanctioned matings of this nature are very rare, and are documented almost exclusively among politico-religious elites4-specifically within polygynous and patrilineal royal families that are headed by god-kings5,6. We identify relatives of this individual within two other major complexes of passage tombs 150 km to the west of Newgrange, as well as dietary differences and fine-scale haplotypic structure (which is unprecedented in resolution for a prehistoric population) between passage tomb samples and the larger dataset, which together imply hierarchy. This elite emerged against a backdrop of rapid maritime colonization that displaced a unique Mesolithic isolate population, although we also detected rare Irish hunter-gatherer introgression within the Neolithic population.

Evolution of kinship structures driven by marriage tie and competition.

The family unit and kinship structures form the basis of social relationships in indigenous societies. Families constitute a cultural group, a so-called clan, within which marriage is prohibited by the incest taboo. The clan attribution governs the mating preference and descent relationships by certain rules. Such rules form various kinship structures, including generalized exchange, an indirect exchange of brides among more than two clans, and restricted exchange, a direct exchange of brides with the flow of children to different clans. These structures are distributed in different areas and show different cultural consequences. However, it is still unknown how they emerge or what conditions determine different structures. Here, we build a model of communities consisting of lineages and family groups and introduce social cooperation among kin and mates and conflict over mating. Each lineage has parameters characterizing the trait and mate preference, which determines the possibility of marriage and the degree of cooperation and conflict among lineages. Lineages can cooperate with those having similar traits to their own or mates', whereas lineages with similar preferences compete for brides. In addition, we introduce community-level selection by eliminating communities with smaller fitness and follow the so-called hierarchical Moran process. We numerically demonstrate that lineages are clustered in the space of traits and preferences, resulting in the emergence of clans with the incest taboo. Generalized exchange emerges when cooperation is strongly needed, whereas restricted exchange emerges when the mating conflict is strict. This may explain the geographical distribution of kinship structures in indigenous societies.

"Silent screams": Family perceptions in the drawings of incest victim children.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to examine the family perceptions in the drawings of children exposed to incest. DESIGN AND METHODS: This qualitative research involved 25 child survivors of incest, all of whom were examined and subjected to forensic interviews at a facility in northern Türkiye specializing in cases of child sexual abuse. The data were collected using the "Child and Family Descriptive Information Form", the "Abuser Descriptive Information Form", the "Family Drawing Test", and the "Semi-structured Interview Form". RESULTS: The children's drawings were subjected to a projective analysis, leading to the identification of three key themes: the distress of confronting incest; unbalanced power and role allocation in the family; and dysfunctional family dynamics.". These themes were discerned by examining the connections and coherence between the categories. CONCLUSION: It is concluded in the study that who are exposed to incest perceived a trauma experience that affected the whole family, perceived unbalanced power and role allocation in the family with authoritarian-aggressive and submissive-oppressed roles, and had negative perceptions of family dynamics such as emotional ties, family integrity, and social interaction. IMPLICATIONS TO PRACTICE: This study emphasizes the need to restructure the issues of familial trauma, power and role imbalance, and unmet needs within the family while planning for trauma in nursing approaches to children who are victims of incest.

Calculation of Likelihood Ratios for Incest Cases Using IBD Patterns.

OBJECTIVES: To calculate the likelihood ratios of incest cases using identity by descent (IBD) patterns. METHODS: The unique IBD pattern was formed by denoting the alleles from the members in a pedigree with a same digital. The probability of each IBD pattern was obtained by multiplying the prior probability by the frequency of non-IBD alleles. The pedigree likelihoods of incest cases under different hypotheses were obtained by summing all IBD pattern probabilities, and the likelihood ratio(LR) was calculated by comparing the likelihoods of different pedigrees. RESULTS: The IBD patterns and the formulae of calculating LR for father-daughter incest and brother-sister incest were obtained. CONCLUSIONS: The calculations of LR for incest cases were illustrated based on IBD patterns.

Viewing Time Measures of Sexual Interest and Sexual Offending Propensity: An Online Survey of Fathers.

Relative viewing times (VTs)-time required to view and evaluate sexually salient images-discriminate individuals with a sexual interest in children, as indirectly indexed by their history of sexual offending against children, from those without such history. In an online sample of 652 fathers, we measured VTs and sexual attraction ratings to child and adult images. We assessed participants' sexual offending history and propensity (self-reported likelihood to have a sexual contact with a child, a non-consensual sexual contact with an adult, and propensity toward father-daughter incest). In contrast with VT studies involving clinical or forensic samples, VTs and attraction ratings failed to discriminate participants with a sexual offending history. VTs successfully distinguished participants with a propensity to sexually offend against children but failed to identify those with a propensity toward incest. Conversely, attraction ratings distinguished participants with a propensity toward incest but failed to identify those with a propensity to sexually offend against children. Correlations between VTs and attraction ratings were small. Results illustrate, for the first time, the distribution of VT measures in community fathers, support the feasibility of online administration of VT tasks to detect propensity to sexually offend against children, and indicate that sexual interest in children and incest propensity are distinct.

[Incest, a genocidal crime]. / L'inceste, un crime génocidaire.

Incest covers multiple situations that have in common family dynamics where the absolute prohibition to have sexual relations with one of its members is not respected. It is a fundamental taboo in our Western societies where the family is considered as a system structuring the relationships between individuals. How can we understand the family transactions that can lead to such situations? What do we know today about families where incest occurs? What is the place of each member of this family, whether he or she is an actor, a witness, or totally unaware of the facts? What happens to the victims of such acts? Here is an insight into these different questions based on our experience as psychotherapists and researchers.

[Disability, a factor of vulnerability to incest]. / Le handicap, un facteur de vulnérabilité face à l'inceste.

Disability, a factor of vulnerability to incestThere is a lack of visibility on the issue of sexual violence among people with disabilities. There is an omerta on this subject within the social and medico-social establishments that receive them. Intra-family sexual violence is kept silent, as it is everywhere else. The vulnerability of children with disabilities is a risk factor for rape and sexual assault, and communication problems hinder their disclosure. Interview with Marie Rabatel, President of the Francophone Association of Autistic Women, expert of the High Authority of Health on the issues of violence against women with disabilities, member of the Independent Commission on incest and sexual violence against children.

[Accompanying young girls who are victims of incest, a necessarily holistic approach]. / Accompagner les jeunes filles victimes d'inceste, une approche nécessairement holistique.

Accompanying child and adolescent victims of incest towards reconstruction requires professionals trained in the specificities of this intra-family sexual violence. The Jean-Bru shelter, which takes in young girl victims, has developed the expertise of a complementary multi-partner approach and offers socio-educational, medical-psychological and legal support, for the benefit of a personalized global project that also includes the family link.

Childhood Emotional Incest Scale (CEIS): Development, validation, cross-validation, and reliability.

Describing a maladaptive parent-child relationship wherein a parent turns to a child for the satisfaction of emotional and/or relational needs, emotional incest remains an underinvestigated phenomenon. This is partly due to a lack of an empirically based measure of childhood emotional incest, and as a result, a 2-factor, 12-item scale was created based on expert opinion and a preliminary study of 319 university students. Each consisting of 6 items, the factors were called "Surrogate Spouse" and "Unsatisfactory Childhood." A follow-up study conducted with a second sample of 415 participants supports the 2-factor structure as a good fit to the data as well as the invariance of the scale across genders. The Childhood Emotional Incest Scale (CEIS) demonstrates good convergent validity with childhood emotional neglect (r = .58) and emotional abuse (r = .52) as well as good divergent validity with early memories of warmth and safeness (r = -0.54). The CEIS has also been found to be a stronger predictor of decreased life satisfaction and increased anxiety than the Parent-Focused Parentification subscale. Based on the values of internal consistency, composite reliability, and test-retest reliability, both factor and total scores of the CEIS can also be considered reliable. Therefore, as a measure of childhood emotional experiences for the retrospective assessment of adults, the 12-item CEIS can be utilized in the research of counseling, psychology, and education, particularly with regard to expanding knowledge into the roots and consequences of emotional incest and promoting parenting practices and marital/relational dynamics that are more functional. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Internalization and Opposition to Stigmatized Social Discourse among Incest Survivors.

Despite the high prevalence of incest, survivors are reluctant to disclose its existence for reasons such as shame, guilt and the presence of an accusatory and stigmatizing social discourse. The current mixed methods study examined the internal discourses of 13 incest survivors in Israel, reflected in self-reported internal dialogs which emerged during interviews. The qualitative analysis revealed a dialectical tension between two themes - one reflecting an internalization of the social discourse (manifested as quotes taken from social discourse and uttered by the survivors) and the other an agentic discourse (manifested in utterances either resisting the social discourse or showing an empowering advertence to one's own fulcrum). The quantitative analysis showed that for seven participants the internalized social discourse expressions were most frequent, for five the agentic expressions were most frequent, and that for one the discourses were at equilibrium. The ubiquitous sub-themes manifested in the internalized social discourse were: victimhood (feelings of vulnerability and helplessness), survivorship (meaningless existence, despair and hopelessness), negative self-esteem and self-pathology (perception of the self as having pathological psychological problems), and denial/repression of the abuse. The ubiquitous sub-themes manifested in the agentic discourse were: positive self-image and sense of potency, hope, optimism and positive perception of life, and uprising against the parents and institutions that did not give support. The discussion is based on Butler's concept of vulnerability, which suggests how to address the harms inflicted by incest without erasing aspects of the survivors' agency and growth.

[Rivastigmine as treatment for flashbacks and REM sleep problems in an older patient]. / Rivastigmine tegen herbelevingen en remslaapstoornissen bij een oudere patiënte.

A 61-year-old woman with suspected schizophrenia has been attending an outpatient geriatrics service for some time, initially with memory complaints and panic attacks. During treatment, the diagnosis schizophrenia was rejected and psychopharmaceuticals were largely phased out, which improved cognitive functions. Eventually, flashbacks of incest experienced in childhood remained together with REM sleep pathology. The flashbacks, nightmares and the REM sleep pathology were responsive to rivastigmine. Rivastigmine use for the treatment of REM sleep pathology is known in the literature, but it has never been described previously that rivastigmine also impacts on flashbacks and nightmares..

Insects and incest: Sib-mating tolerance in natural populations of a parasitoid wasp.

Sib-mating avoidance is a pervasive behaviour that is expected to evolve in species subject to inbreeding depression. Although laboratory studies provide elegant demonstrations, small-scaled bioassays minimize the costs of mate finding and choice, and thus may produce spurious findings. We therefore combined laboratory experiments with field observations to examine the existence of inbreeding avoidance using the parasitoid wasp Venturia canescens. In the laboratory, our approach consisted of mate-choice experiments to assess kin discrimination in population cages with competitive interactions. A higher mating probability after sib rejections suggested that females could discriminate their sibs; however, in contrast to previous findings, sib-mating avoidance was not observed. To compare our laboratory results to field data, we captured 241 individuals from two populations. Females laid eggs in the lab, and 226 daughters were obtained. All individuals were genotyped at 18 microsatellite loci, which allowed inference of the genotype of each female's mate and subsequently the relatedness within each mating pair. We found that the observed rate of sib-mating did not differ from the probability that sibs encountered one another at random in the field, which is consistent with an absence of sib-mating avoidance. In addition, we detected a weak but significant male-biased dispersal, which could reduce encounters between sibs. We also found weak fitness costs associated with sib-mating. As such, the sex-biased dispersal that we found is probably sufficient to mitigate these costs. These results imply that kin discrimination has probably evolved for purposes other than mate choice, such as superparasitism avoidance.

Conceived Through Rape/Incest? Adoptive Parents' Experiences Managing Uncertainty and Disclosure Surrounding their Children's Origins.

Adoptive parents may be placed with children conceived under difficult circumstances, such as via rape or incest. At the same time, adoptive parents are generally encouraged to communicate openly with their children about their adoption stories and birth families. No research has examined the experiences of parents who adopt children who were conceived through rape or incest. This exploratory study examines how parents discuss their decision-making when adopting children conceived via rape or incest, how they manage varying levels of uncertainty about their children's origins, and whether and how they plan to disclose this information to children. The researchers used thematic analysis to examine the experiences of 11 couples (22 parents) interviewed at four time points after adopting children who were reportedly conceived via rape or incest. Findings revealed that even soon after adopting, parents discussed the need to eventually talk to their children about their conception circumstances. Parents generally struggled to determine how and when to disclose this information, particularly when they felt uncertain about the veracity of the conception stories they had been told. Some hoped to rely on professionals or birth mothers to guide them in these communications. Findings have implications for supporting adoptive families as they navigate the complexity of managing sensitive information and uncertainty when adopting children conceived through rape or incest. Practitioners should provide ongoing guidance to adoptive parents about how and when to disclose developmentally appropriate information to children about difficult conception circumstances.

Los padres adoptivos pueden recibir niños concebidos en circunstancias difíciles, por ejemplo, por violación o incesto. Al mismo tiempo, a los padres adoptivos generalmente se los anima a comunicarse abiertamente con sus hijos acerca de las historias sobre su adopción y sus familias biológicas. Ninguna investigación ha analizado las experiencias de los padres que adoptan a niños que fueron concebidos por violación o incesto. Este estudio exploratorio analiza cómo los padres debaten su toma de decisiones cuando adoptan a niños concebidos mediante violación o incesto, cómo manejan los diversos niveles de incertidumbre acerca de los orígenes de sus hijos, y si planean revelar esta información a los niños y cómo lo harán. Los investigadores utilizaron el análisis temático para analizar las experiencias de 11 parejas (22 padres) entrevistadas en cuatro momentos específicos después de adoptar a niños que supuestamente fueron concebidos por violación o incesto. Los resultados revelaron que incluso poco después de adoptar, los padres analizaron la necesidad de hablar finalmente con sus hijos acerca de las circunstancias de su concepción. A los padres generalmente les costó decidir cómo y cuándo revelar esta información, particularmente cuando se sentían inseguros acerca de la veracidad de las historias sobre la concepción que les habían contado. Algunos esperaban contar con profesionales o con las madres biológicas para que los guíen en estas comunicaciones. Los hallazgos tienen consecuencias para el apoyo a familias adoptivas que sortean la complejidad de manejar información sensible y la incertidumbre cuando adoptan a niños concebidos por violación o incesto. Los profesionales deberían proporcionar orientación constante a los padres adoptivos sobre cómo y cuándo revelar a sus hijos información adecuada para el desarrollo acerca de las circunstancias difíciles de su concepción.

Voices of adolescent incest victims: A qualitative study on feelings about trauma and expectations of recovery.

BACKGROUND: Incest, is a serious social problem facing society and children/adolescents themselves. The purpose of this study is to explore the ways adolescents talk about and give meaning to their experiences of incest concerning cultural, ethnic factors relevant to southeastern of Turkey. METHOD: We focused on in-depth interviews of five incest victims (14-16 years girls, from low socioeconomic status in southeastern of Turkey). RESULTS: Four key themes were constructed from the qualitative analysis: 1. Unable to understand/Delayed meaning-making: Adolescents provided definitive information about the first abuse memory but they were also unable to understand what they had experienced so they delayed meaning making. 2. Dysfunctional coping style with the incest: Adolescents told that they threatened the perpetrators in various phases of incest. 3. Avoidance of eye contact by the perpetrator: We recognized that perpetrators avoided social contact with the victim. This theme evokes dehumanizing of women during incest. 4. The urge to destroy happy memories: This theme presents data on the adolescents' expectations about recovery. CONCLUSION: According to the themes, two fundamental therapeutic precepts could guide the treatment process for adolescent girl incest survivors: 1. Exploration of the delayed meaning making: Therapist could address dysfunctional family functioning and explain that it is normal for a child to be delayed in meaning making. 2. Recovery of the adolescent's lost self after semantic dehumanization in abuses: Therapist should help her to dispute irrational beliefs about worthlessness and to gain control of her body.

"It's Just the Abuse that Needs to Stop": Professional Framing of Sibling Relationships in a Grounded Theory Study of Social Worker Decision Making following Sibling Sexual Behavior.

Sibling abuse is a global problem, arguably the most prevalent form of family violence, and as harmful as other familial abuse. There is evidence internationally that sibling abuse often goes unrecognized or is minimized by professionals from education, health and social care. The responses of social workers are of particular interest as key decision makers in child welfare, yet research has focused on concerns about parental abuse rather than risks presented by children within a family. This paper presents findings from research examining social worker decision-making in cases involving sibling sexual behavior. Interviews were conducted across six Scottish local authorities with twenty-one social workers having responsibility for such cases. Forty-five hours of in-depth interviews regarding 21 families and 54 children involved in sibling sexual behavior were audiotaped, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using constructivist grounded theory. The study found that social workers frame sibling relationships as non-abusive and of intrinsic value, and when faced with contradictory evidence engage in a number of mechanisms to maintain this frame. This paper makes a significant contribution to the sociology of siblinghood and provides an explanation that is more profound than existing theories for the internationally recognized problem of the marginalization of sibling abuse.

Evaluation of Incest Cases: 4-Years Retrospective Study.

Incest is specific type of sexual abuse. The aim of this study was to evaluate the sociodemographic data and examination findings of cases referred to our hospital as forensic court cases of incest, and to measure the effect on mental health disorders of the nature of the sexual abuse. Retrospective examination was made of the records of 40 cases of incest victims. Evaluation was made of the age, gender, incident suffered, the perpetrator, form of abuse, examination findings, and mental status. The cases comprised 36 girls and 4 boys. Without penetration sexual abuse was determined in 25 cases and with penetration sexual abuse in 15 cases. At least one mental health disorder was determined in 20 of the cases of simple sexual abuse and in 11 of the major sexual abuse type cases. The most frequently seen mental health disorder was post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in 21 cases. Mental health disorders were determined in 77.5% of the incest cases in this study, at a greater rate 80% in cases of "without penetration sexual abuse" than in cases of "with penetration sexual abuse" 74.33%. Therefore, all cases of incest must be followed up carefully without differentiation of without or with penetration abuse.

[Sexual violence against women in Tunisia]. / Violence sexuelle exercée sur les femmes en Tunisie.

BACKGROUND: Sexual violence exists everywhere in the world. It depends mainly on the cultural and religious norms conveyed in the various societies. This is a neglected area of research. Available data are insufficient, especially in Arab-Muslim context. METHODS: In this paper, we comprehensively review the scientific literature in order to clarify the cultural, religious and legal aspects of the concept of sexual violence against women in Tunisia, and ask the question of the urgent need to put in place strategies to counter this problem. RESULTS: The National Office for Family and Population published in 2011 the results of the national survey on violence against women in Tunisia, including data on sexual violence and its impact on women's health and well-being. According to this survey, 14.2% of women reported having been sexually abused by an intimate partner during their lifetime and 9.0% reported having experienced it during the last 12 months. One out of every six Tunisian women has been the victim of a sexual violence in a conjugal setting. More men than women legitimized violence against women in contexts where family control, especially conjugal control, is exercised over them. In a study examining the impact of culture and religion on experiences and sexual practice of women in Tunisian society, the majority of respondents thought that sexuality in women was a religious duty and that they do not have the right to refuse their husbands or to rebel. Thus, women would be doubly sanctioned having neither the right to express their desire nor not to respond to their husband's desire. A survey of a representative sample of Tunisian women found that 56.9% of the participants reported being victims of domestic violence, particularly sexual violence (10.7%) consisting mainly of rape and sodomy, at least once in their lifetime. This survey showed that those victims expressed dissatisfaction with overall quality of life. Moreover, contrary to Western literature, sexual violence was the least reported form of violence by teenage girls in Tunisian schools. Indeed, cultural values of modesty, virginity and honor are socially much more demanded for girls, in Arab countries in general, reinforcing staggering silence and inaction around violence experienced by school-aged adolescents. In Tunisian society, the cultural "solution" to rape wants the woman to marry her rapist which safeguards her family's integrity by legitimizing the union. CONCLUSION: Sexual violence has detrimental effects on female victims' physical and mental health. Even if the information on this form of violence is not easy to obtain in our environment, and that rates of subjects reporting sexual violence in their lifetimes are not important, the problem of sexual violence must be considered as a public health problem requiring urgent interventions and a greater institutional will.

Betrayed and Broken: A Study of the Experiences of Victims of Child Sexual Abuse in the Ga Community in Accra, Ghana.

Child sexual abuse is increasingly becoming an issue of concern in most societies across the globe, including Ghana. This is a phenomenological study that sought to describe the lived experiences of victims of child sexual abuse in Ghana, using the Ga community as a case study. Purposive and snowball sampling techniques were used to identify 17 sexually abused children in the Ga Community. Using the interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), four main themes described the experiences of the victims: (a) forced sex (b) incest (c) joleying and (d) transactional sex. The findings illustrate the different circumstances in which children were sexually abused in the community studied. It also presents socio-cultural factors that normalizes the sexual abuse of children in the Ga Community. These findings underline the need for effective preventive programs and community interventions to protect children and support victims of child sexual abuse.

Psycho-Social Effects of Father-Daughter Incest: Views of South African Social Workers.

Father-daughter incest (FDI) is one of the most prohibited sexual acts and is increasingly becoming a widespread problem in South Africa. Specifically, the study explored factors contributing to incest, how incidences of incest become known, different ways that incest affects the offender, the victim and the family as well as how professionals intervene in incest cases. The literature was reviewed to fully understand incest within the Western and African context, the relationship of father-daughter in the incest act, what influences the occurrence of father-daughter incest and what measures are taken to intervene in father-daughter incest cases. A qualitative approach was used in this study and focused on exploring the psychosocial effects of incest on the victims and the offender as well as the family's perspectives affected by such experiences. Systems theory, psychoanalytic and trauma theory formed the theoretical framework of this study.