Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Description: These two volumes consist of 30 chapters and 930 pages covering a wide range of
topics. Volume 1 addresses basic issues in the field including definitional and
ethical issues, the history of child sexual abuse, cross-cultural perspectives,
epidemiology, major legal issues, and theories of pedophilia and incest along
with the associated areas of child pornography and prostitution, feminist views
of child sexual abuse,
homosexuality and child sexual abuse, and sexual abuse and mental retardation. Volume 2 contains selections on diagnosis and assessment of victims and
offenders and credibility assessment and on treatment of victims and offenders,
relapse prevention, and primary prevention. References follow each chapter and
there is a subject and an author index at the end of each volume. Discussion: The complexity of the topic can be quickly learned by reviewing the chapter titles and authors which indicate just how complicated and ambiguous the subject of child sexual abuse really is. This book provides a thoughtful and comprehensive look at the area and many of the chapters are excellent. The chapter on definitions and ethical issues by O'Donohue tackles difficult and thorny issues and provides a careful analysis of the moral and ethical status of adult-child sexual contacts. Other good chapters in Volume 1 include Wasserman and Rosenfeld's history of child abuse, Kelly and Lusk's discussion of pedophilia, and Jarvie's chapter on child pornography. In Volume 2, Rosen and Halls provide a comprehensive discussion of behavioral treatment for both sex offenders and child victims which, along with the chapter on relapse prevention by Hildebran and Pithers, gives an excellent overview of effective treatment for offenders. The chapter on the medical examination by De Jong is clear and detailed and provides guidelines on how to medically evaluate a child suspected of being abused and properly interpret the findings. Many of the other chapters are also good. But some chapters fall short. O'Donohue, Geer, and Elliott's discussion of primary prevention omits the work of Berrick and Guilbert (1991) and Krivacska (1990) who are critical of these programs. De Young's chapter on credibility assessment makes no mention of the work of Raskin and his colleagues on Statement Validity Analysis (Raskin & Esplin, 1991; Raskin & Yuille, 1989). Vander Mey's discussion of incest is biased by her values and beliefs which result in overly inclusive definitions and an emphasis on feminist theories. In her chapter on epidemiology; Salter gives clear preference to studies that result in higher estimates such as Russell (1986) and Wyatt (1985). Despite the shortcomings in some of the chapters, taken as a whole, these two
volumes provide a useful, comprehensive, and thoughtful coverage of child
sexual abuse. They are highly recommended. References Berrick, J. D., & Gilbert, N. (1991). With the Best of Intentions: The Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Movement. New York: The Guilford Press. Krivacska, J. J. (1990). Designing Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Programs: Current Approaches and a Proposal for the Prevention, Reduction, and Identification of Sexual Misuse. Springfield, IL, C. C. Thomas. Raskin, D. C., & Esplin, P. W. (1 991). Assessment of children's statements of sexual abuse. In J. Doris (Ed.), The Suggestibility of Children's Recollections: Implications for Eyewitness Testimony (pp. 153-164). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Raskin, D. C. & Yuille, J. C. (1989). Problems in evaluating interviews of children in sexual abuse cases. In S. J. Ceci, D. F. Ross, & M. P. Toglia (Eds.), Perspectives on Children s' Testimony (pp. 184-207). New York: Springer-Verlag. Russell, D. B. (1986). The Secret Trauma: Incest in the Lives of Girls and Women. New York: Basic Books. Wyatt, G. B. (1985). The sexual abuse of Afro-American and White-American Women in childhood. Child Abuse & Neglect, 9, 507-519. Reviewed by LeRoy Schultz, Emeritus Professor of Social Work, West Virginia University.
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