Citation

de Oliveira Ziliotto FP, Antunes MC, Aznar-Blefari C, da Rocha GVM. Trends Psychol. 2020; 28(2): 165-179.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, Brazilian Society of Psychology, Publisher Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.9788/s43076-019-00007-0

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This research has characterized sexual abuse of children by women through reports of psychotherapists via the Internet. Participants included 47 psychologists of victims or offenders (with no significant difference among the informants). These professionals answered an online questionnaire with information about the psychotherapist, offender, victim, and abuse data. The results indicated that 74.5% of the abuse cases were intrafamilial, and the offender was the mother of the victim in 36.2%. A total of 68% of the offenders reported having been victims of violence. A Bayesian analysis was conducted to assess the relationship between the frequencies of the answers provided. The model showed that lower use of force increased the probability of the child being between 3 and 6 years of age (53.8%) and the abuse lasting from 1 month to 2 years (49.7%). Offenders over 41 years of age, who did not use force in the abuse, victimize children more frequently (60.1%), and abusive events occur for more than 2 years (50%). The model resulted in an error rate of 16.67% and a ROC area of 0.91. This study contributes to the understanding of the characteristics of sexual assaults perpetrated by women, by providing data that can be used in intervention planning.

Language: en