Research: Age of Innocence

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research project
Research flaws and false constructs  

Methodological flaws/false constructs

Minor-Adult sex  

Prevalence of harm
Association or causation?
Secondary harm
Family environment
Effects of age on outcomes

Minors  

Commercial and online victimization
Youth sexuality
Sexual repression
Cognitive ability
Teen pregnancy
Effects of pornography

"Child Sex Offenders"  

Characteristics of the offender
Who offends and how often?
Recidivism

Minor attraction  

Child pornography
Cognitive distortion
Abnormal psychology
Pedophilia as an orientation
Nonsexual aspects
Prevalence
Dangers of stigma
A "cure" for pedophilia?

Broader perspectives  

Non-human relationships
Historical relationships
Nonwestern relationships
Double-Taboo (Incest, Prostitution)
Evolutionary Perspectives

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It is widely assumed that when forced or unwanted (a minority of) sexual contact does take place, younger minors are especially vulnerable to harm. This is said to manifest itself in the form of multiple psychological impairments in later life. Much like the idea that CSA "syndrome" takes on a certain observable form, these ideas are not supported by quantitative evidence. It instead appears that the perception of having been subjected to "abuse" is associated with negative psychological outcomes, regardless of the age at which the perceived abuse took place.

Unrepresentatively sampled and/or coercive CSA studies

Studies which focus on unrepresentative clinical samples rather than the wider population, have occasionally (although inconsistently) shown an association between age and severity of symptoms. This might be because of self-perception (abusive contacts before puberty are far rarer) and/or due to the higher prevalence of forced incestuous contacts at a younger age of first onset (incest is usually associated with more negative outcomes). When

  • Bulik, C. M., Prescott, C. A., & Kendler, K. S. (2001). Features of childhood sexual abuse and the development of psychiatric and substance use disorders. British Journal of Psychiatry, 179(05), 444–449.
    "Age at the time of first CSA ranged from under 5 to 15 years, with the majority of individuals being between 12-15 years old. [...] We observed no increased risk of later psychopathology related to the age at which an individual was first abused, the number of, or the gender of the perpetrators." [Tables in the paper corroborate this claim - Ed]

Studies which use Rind-type CSA definitions

It should be noted that the above studies (which insist on self-perceived abuse and/or use of force) are fundamentally different to the Rind/Daly type studies which canvass for all legally defined "CSA" regardless of force or perception of abuse, or meta-analyze such data. With the latter type of study, it may well be the case that younger "victims" of legally-defined CSA go on to perceive these events as more negative, however, concrete psychological outcomes have not been observed to follow any significant trend. The reasons for this more negative self-perception may again be related to wider social factors such as the taboo on sex with prepubescent children, higher frequency of incest and a higher frequency of opportunistic, low-quality interactions owing to the underprivileged social position of smaller children. As a result of this, and the tendency of older minors to be more open to initiating a contact, coercive contacts are likely to be overrepresented in the younger age group.

The following study did not insist upon force or use unrepresentative sampling (hence the now familiar absence of negative psychological adjustment in the CSA group).

Excerpt Graphic Library

The EGL on Harm covers some adjacent topics, and we will produce a graphic reviewing this topic soon. Just right click/save and reproduce by uploading in short-form media to bypass character limits.