SEXUAL ABUSE LABEL - ADULTS EXPECTATIONS FOR CHILDREN

The current study was designed to test two hypotheses: 1) knowledge of a child's family history of sexual abuse influences adults' expectati ons for children and 2) adults with acquaintance of sexual abuse do no t negatively stereotype children to the extent adults without such exp erience do. The study also assessed the reliability and factor structu re of the Child History Expectations Questionnaire (CHEQ), a measure o f adults' expectations about children's functioning. The sample consis ted of 279 female undergraduate students. A principal components analy sis yielded a seven-factor solution, and reliability proved to be adeq uate. A 2 (acquaintance with abuse) by 3 (family history) by 2 (sex of child) between-subjects analysis of variance was conducted for each o f the seven expectation factors. Results confirm family history labels lead to adults' having different expectations for children. Moreover, subjects' own family history of sexual abuse has a mitigating effect on their expectations for sexually abused children. Implications for t herapists and helping professionals are discussed.