Attributing responsibility in cases of father-daughter sexual abuse

This study examined the effects of social workers' attributions of responsibility on their strategies in cases of father-daughter sexual abuse. Social workers read three vignettes illustrating such abuse. Following each vignette, they rated the degree of responsibility they attributed to the father, mother, and daughter described in each vignette, and the likelihood that they would recommend the incarceration of the father or the placement of the daughter into foster care. The more responsibility workers attributed to the father and daughter and the less they attributed to the mother, the more likely they were to recommend the father's incarceration. The more responsibility they attributed to the father, the more likely they were to recommend that the daughter be placed into foster care.