Counseling sexually abused girls: the impact of sex of counselor.

OBJECTIVE: The present study was conducted to assess the impact of sex of counselor on the therapeutic process for sexually abused girls in individual counseling. METHOD: Raters evaluated videotapes of counseling sessions recorded for 35 sexually abused girls who had been systematically assigned to brief-term psychoeducationally oriented treatment with either a male or female counselor. Clients' in-session behavior was rated using accepted therapeutic process measures, while statistically controlling for the effect of girls' pretreatment comfort level with male and female counselors. RESULTS: Overall, MANCOVA results revealed that girls' participation in counseling was not significantly related to session number, the child's age (i.e., preadolescent vs. adolescent), or the sex of counselor who provided treatment services. However, univariate results and graphic representations of girls' behavior suggest that adolescent clients, when compared with their preadolescent counterparts, seemed to be more reluctant to discuss certain child sexual abuse topics. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that caution is warranted regarding categorical recommendations on the assignment of young female survivors to male counselors. Delimitations and limitations of the study and directions for future research are discussed.

Frequency of 530-bp deletion in Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans leukotoxin promoter region.

Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans strains showing a 530-bp deletion in the promoter region of the leukotoxin gene operon elaborate high amounts of leukotoxin that may play a role in the pathogenesis of periodontal disease. This study used polymerase chain reaction detection to determine the occurrence of the 530-bp deletion in 94 A. actinomycetemcomitans strains from individuals of various ethnic backgrounds. Eleven blacks and one Hispanic subject but no Caucasian or Asian subjects showed the 530-bp deletion in the leukotoxin promoter region, suggesting that the deletion is mainly a characteristic of individuals of African descent. A. actinomycetemcomitans strains exhibiting a deletion in the leukotoxin promoter region occurred both in individuals having severe periodontitis and in adolescents revealing no evidence of destructive periodontal disease.

Impact of rater knowledge on sexually abused and nonabused girls' scores on the Draw-A-Person: Screening Procedure for Emotional Disturbance (DAP:SPED).

Human figure drawings collected from a clinical sample of 20 sexually abused and 20 nonsexually abused girls were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 case descriptions: Actual, in which raters were told the girls' actual abuse status, or Pretend, in which raters were told that drawings were made by girls with the opposite abuse status. Using the Draw-A-Person: Screening Procedure for Emotional Disturbance (DAP:SPED) scoring system developed by Naglieri, McNeish, and Bardos (1991), three raters independently scored 44 randomly ordered protocols, 4 of which were commonly rated as checks for rater accuracy and observer drift. Results revealed no significant effect for girls' abuse status or the case description given to raters, thereby suggesting that the DAP:SPED is sufficiently objective to withstand the confounding influence of varying case descriptions.

Clinicians' attitudes toward no-suicide agreements.

Though no-suicide agreements are widely used and often recommended for suicidal patients, their sparse empirical support leads to questions regarding their use with patients of various ages. To answer this question, 46 licensed psychologist members of a Southern state psychology association answered questions regarding their beliefs and attitudes about no-suicide agreements. Such agreements were considered more appropriate for adults or adolescents than children. They were judged highly appropriate with moderately suicidal patients and were expected to help patients postpone suicide until after a crisis had past and to help reduce clinicians' anxiety.

Depression in mothers of sexually abused vs. mothers of nonabused children.

A total of 104 mothers whose children were receiving a psychological evaluation at a university outpatient clinic completed the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) as part of their child's evaluation. Of these, 32 (31%) mothers were seeking treatment for children who were victims of intrafamilial sexual abuse, 26 (25%) were requesting help for child victims of extrafamilial sexual abuse, and 46 (44%) were seeking counseling services for nonabused children who were exhibiting a variety of common childhood problems. Although there was no significant group difference for BDI raw scores or BDI score categories (i.e., Normal Functioning, Moderate Depression, Moderate-Severe Depression, Extremely Severe Depression), results revealed that 16 (50%) of the intrafamilial abuse mothers, 18 (69%) of the extrafamilial mothers, and 23 (50%) of the mothers of nonabused children reported experiencing at least a moderate degree of depression. Results are discussed relative to their clinical significance, and recommendations are provided for future research with mothers of sexually abused children.

Child sexual abuse: factors affecting victims' removal from home.

This study was conducted to examine factors associated with children's protective service workers' decision to remove sexually abused children from the family home. The decision to remove was analyzed relative to the following six factors: (1) nature of the abuse, (2) severity of abuse, (3) frequency of abuse (4) mothers' employment status, (5) mothers' compliance with a recommended treatment plan, and (6) mothers' belief of the victim. Discriminant function analysis revealed that the discriminant function containing mothers' compliance, mothers' belief, severity of abuse, mothers' employment status, and frequency of abuse, in order of importance of contribution, was significantly related to victims' removal from the home.

Childhood nocturnal enuresis: the prediction of premature withdrawal from behavioral conditioning.

Predictors of premature withdrawal from a 12-week program of behavioral conditioning for childhood nocturnal enuresis were examined for 47 children treated at a university outpatient clinic. All children were administered the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale; parents completed the 55-item Behavior Problem Checklist and the Tolerance Scale for Enuresis. Parents also reported the methods (i.e., random awakening, restriction of fluids, rewards, punishment, medication, other) previously used to control their child's wetting. A stepwise discriminant function analysis revealed that the function containing number of previous techniques used, presence of child behavior problems, and parent tolerance of enuresis was a significant predictor of early termination of treatment.

Child sexual abuse: who is to blame?

This study utilized written descriptions of sexual activity between an adult and a child to examine the impact of victim sex, perpetrator sex, respondent sex, and victim response (i.e., encouraging, passive, resisting) on the attribution of responsibility to the child and the adult perpetrator. A total of 360 college undergraduates (male = 180; female = 180) participated in the study. A main effect for victim response indicated that respondents attributed significantly more responsibility to the child and significantly less responsibility to the perpetrator when the child was described as encouraging the encounter. Children who remained passive were also held significantly more responsible than those who resisted, but there was not a significant difference between resisting and passive conditions in ratings of responsibility to the perpetrator. Several significant interactions affected ratings of responsibility to the perpetrator. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of the need for educational programs to raise public awareness about the helplessness felt by sexual abuse victims and the needs of male victims in particular.

The treatment of nocturnal enuresis: a controlled comparison of two models of urine alarm.

This study examined the effectiveness of two models of urine alarm that are commercially available for the treatment of nocturnal enuresis. A total of 39 children who exhibited primary nocturnal enuresis was assigned to one of three experimental groups: behavioral conditioning with a contiguous model of alarm, behavioral treatment with a delayed model of alarm, or a clinical waiting list. Results for the 12-week program indicate that after the second week of treatment, the contiguous and delayed models of alarm produced comparable reductions in weekly wetting frequency that were significantly better than no treatment at all. Results indicated a significantly higher rate of apparatus malfunction for the delayed model of alarm. It is proposed that the contiguous alarm is the treatment of choice at the present time because of its significantly lower rate of malfunction.