Japanese Childhood Victims of Sexual Abuse and their Social Perceptions: Comparisons with Children in Germany, Greece and the USA
| Date | 01 January 2006 |
| DOI | 10.1177/026975800601300105 |
| Author | John P. J. Dussich |
| Published date | 01 January 2006 |
International
Review
of
Victimology,
2006,
Vol.l3,
pp
99-113
0269-7580/06
$10
© A B
Academic
Publishers
-Printed
in
Great
Britain
JAPANESE
CHILDHOOD
VICTIMS
OF
SEXUAL
ABUSE
AND
THEIR
SOCIAL
PERCEPTIONS:
COMPARISONS
WITH
CHILDREN
IN
GERMANY,
GREECE
AND
THE
USA
'If
people
define
situations
as
real,
they
are
real
in
their
consequences'
W.I.
Thomas
(1926)
JOHN
P.
J.
DUSSICH*
California
State
University,
Fresno,
USA
ABSTRACT
Empirical
Japanese
studies
of
childhood
sexual
abuse
are
rare.
The
few
studies
that
do
exist
are
mostly
case
studies
involving
low
numbers
of
respondents.
These
are
usually
highly
subjective,
mostly
legal
or
psychiatric
in
orientation
and
cannot
be
generalized
to
the
Japanese
population.
In
Japan
this
topic
is
often
avoided
as
unpleasant;
consequently,
it
is
not
discussed
in
conversation
and
not
investigated
in
research.
However,
this
subject
is
a
compelling
social
problem
that
merits
the
attention
of
social
scientists.
The
original
concept
for
this
study
was
a
product
of
Gerd
F.
Kirchhoff
and
Claudia
Kirchhoff
(
1976)
who
studied
hidden
sexual
victimization
in
a
German
and
a
US
sample
in
1974/5.
About
20
years
later,
Gerd
Kirchhoff
attempted
to
coordinate
a
much
expanded
comparative
follow-up
study
in
eight
countries:
Germany,
USA,
South
Africa,
Brazil,
Mexico,
Hungary,
Poland,
and
Japan.
However,
data
were
generated
from
only
half
the
countries:
Germany,
USA,
Greece
and
Japan.
This
study
is
part
of
that
follow-up
study
and
used
the
same
questionnaire
(translated
into
Japanese)
as
was
originally
devised
in
Germany
and
later
refined
by
Paul
Friday
(in
English)
for
the
American
study.
A
representative
sample
of
665
Japanese
college
students
were
asked
to
anonymously
evaluate
their
childhood
sexual
activities
using
the
large
41-question
instrument.
The
findings
suggested
a
significant
distortion
of
social
perceptions
by
victims
of
sexual
abuse,
especially
victims
of
exhibitionism,
concerning
their
estimation
of
similar
experiences
of like-gender
and
like-aged
children.
One
of
the
surprising
findings
was
the
low
incidence
of
these
experiences
in
Japan
compared
to
some
of
the
other
countries
surveyed
earlier.
It
is
clear
that
significant
long-term
effects
on
these
victims
were
evident
as
a
result
of their
victimizations.
Key
words:
Sexual
abuse;
social
perceptions;
childhood
victims;
deviance;
victimization.
*
The
author
would
like
to
thank
Sugao
Shinohara
for
his
assistance
in
the
analysis
of
these
data.
This
article
is
based
on
a
presentation
made
at
the
Xlth
International
Symposium
on
Victimology,
Stellenbosch,
South
Africa
13-18
July
2003.
The
research
from
which
this
article
came
was
supported
by
a
grant
from
the
Tokiwa
University,
Mito,
Japan.
Contact
address:
John
P.
J.
Dussich,
PhD,
Department
of
Criminology,
California
State
University,
Fresno,
2576
East
San
Ramon
Avenue,
MIS
St
104,
Fresno,
California
93740-8039,
USA.
To continue reading
Request your trial