Measuring Child Sexual Abuse Myth Acceptance in a Multiprofessional German Sample

Child sexual abuse myths (CSAM) may influence professionals working in the fields of child protection, the judicial sector, and schools. Their acceptance of CSAM is associated with negative effects on prevention and intervention efforts in cases of child sexual abuse (CSA); and individuals who accept CSAM view children and adolescents who disclose their experiences as less credible. Therefore, it is important to assess the CSAM acceptance rate of professionals who frequently deal with children and adolescents in general and cases of CSA in particular. This study used the Child Sexual Abuse Myth Scale-German version to assess CSAM acceptance in a sample of N = 578 German professionals from the fields of child protection, the judicial sector, and schools in five German states. Results showed low CSAM acceptance rates overall-especially in those CSAM subscales that downplay negative effects or shift responsibility from perpetrators to survivors. However, professionals in our sample were more accepting of CSAM about perpetrators and showed the highest CSAM acceptance rates in the subscale focusing on CSAM about CSA disclosures. Additionally, we found higher CSAM acceptance rates on some subscales for men and CSA nonsurvivors compared to women and CSA survivors. There were some significant group differences between professionals from child protection, the judicial sector, and schools: School professionals showed higher CSAM acceptance than both other groups. It is concluded that findings should be used to design and evaluate specific CSA training programs focusing on the CSAM with higher acceptance rates and to apply effective training programs to different professional groups.