Child sexual abuse myth acceptance among South Asian American men and women

In the present study, an attempt was made to determine whether differences existed between South Asian American men and women in their acceptance of child sexual abuse myths. Differences were examined based on gender, levels of acculturation, and past histories of child sexual abuse. The Child Sexual Abuse Myth Scale (Collings, 1997), the Suinn-Lew Asian Acculturation Scale (Suinn, Rickard-Figueroa, Lew, & Vigil, 1987), and a demographic questionnaire were administered on an Internet survey website to participants recruited through advertising on a social networking website. One-hundred and forty-seven participants, including 93 women and 54 men, were included in the final results. An independent samples t-test showed significant differences between South Asian American men and women in their attitudes toward child sexual abuse. An independent samples t-test and a Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient with a scatterplot showed no significant differences in acculturation and past history of child sexual abuse on child sexual abuse myth acceptance.