Empathy and Sexism as Predictors of Childhood Sexual Abuse Myths in University Students

Abstract

Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) is one of the situations that can negatively affect the emotional, mental and social life of the child. Myths that determine adults' perspectives on CSA may cause the child to experience a new trauma after sexual abuse. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate whether sexism and empathy variables predict childhood sexual abuse myths and whether CSA myths differentiate based on gender. Participants consist of students of a state university in Turkey. In this study, Toronto Empathy Questionnaire, Ambivalent Sexism Inventory, and Childhood Sexual Abuse Myth Scale were used to collect data. Multiple regression analysis method and independent samples t test were used for statistical analysis. Multiple regression results show that there is a meaningful relation between CSA myths and sexism (benevolent and hostile dimensions) and empathy variables (R = .36, R2 = .13, p = .00). The combination of sexism and empathy variables explains 13% of total variance in students’ CSA myths. Moreover, in this study, it was determined that women had fewer myths than men. These results suggest that prevention studies at an individual level are not sufficient to prevent child sexual abuse or treat victims appropriately, and it proves that studies on a social level is absolutely necessary. In this respect, further studies may examine the effects of trainings about these variables on the embracing CSA myths.

Keywords

• Childhood
• sexual abuse
• myths
• empathy
• sexism
• gender

Üniversite Öğrencilerinde Çocukluk Dönemi Cinsel İstismar Mitlerinin Yordayıcıları Olarak Empati ve Cinsiyetçilik

Öz

Çocukluk dönemi cinsel istismarı (ÇDCİ), çocuğun duygusal, zihinsel ve sosyal yaşamını olumsuz etkileyebilen durumlardan biridir. Yetişkinlerin çocukluk dönemi cinsel istismarına bakış açısını belirleyen mitleri, çocuğun istismar sonrası yeni bir travma yaşamasına neden olabilir. Bu nedenle, bu çalışmanın amacı, cinsiyetçilik ve empati değişkenlerinin çocukluk dönemi cinsel istismar mitlerini yordayıp yordamadığını ve ÇDCİ mitlerinin cinsiyete göre farklılaşıp farklılaşmadığını incelemektir. Bu çalışmanın katılımcıları Türkiye’de bulunan bir kamu üniversitesinin öğrencilerinden oluşmaktadır. Çalışmada, veri toplamak için Toronto Empati Anketi, Çelişik Duygulu Cinsiyetçilik Ölçeği ve Çocukluk Dönemi Cinsel İstismarına İlişkin Mitler Ölçeği kullanılmıştır. İstatistiksel analiz için çoklu regresyon analizi yöntemi ve bağımsız örnekler t testi kullanılmıştır. Çoklu regresyon sonuçları, ÇDCİ mitleri ile korumacı ve düşmanca cinsiyetçilik ile empati değişkenleri (R = .36, R2 = .13, p = .00) arasında anlamlı bir ilişki olduğunu göstermektedir. Cinsiyetçilik ve empati değişkenleri öğrencilerin ÇDCİ mitlerindeki toplam varyansın %13'ünü açıklamaktadır. Ayrıca bu çalışmada kadınların erkeklere göre daha az mite sahip olduğu belirlenmiştir. Bu bulgular, bireysel düzeyde önleme çalışmalarının çocuk cinsel istismarını önlemek veya mağdurları uygun şekilde tedavi etmek için yeterli olmadığına ve toplumsal düzeyde çalışmaların gerekli olduğuna işaret etmektedir. Bu bağlamda, bu değişkenlerle ilgili eğitimlerin ÇDCİ mitleri üzerindeki etkileri daha sonraki çalışmalarda incelenebilir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Çocukluk dönemi
• cinsel istismar
• mitler
• empati
• cinsiyetçilik
• toplumsal cinsiyet

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