terature suffered from poor and inadequate methods of data collection and/or analysis.
This study examined the effectiveness levels of three types of approaches to the prevention and treatment of childhood sexual abuse and incest. The following background information provides clarity to this work.
Childhood Sexual Abuse and Incest: Psychological and Legal Definitions
Incest and childhood sexual abuse are two of the most devastating forms of psychopathological crime in America. Childhood sexual abuse can be considered to be a form of general childhood abuse which, according to the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act of 1973), can be defined as follows:
Child abuse and neglect means the physical or mental injury, sexual abuse, negligent treatment, or mal-treatment of a child under the age of eighteen by a person who is responsible for the child's welfare under circumstances which indicate that the child's health or welfare is harmed or threatened thereby. . .
The nature of childhood sexual abuse (as a subcategory of the general category of childhood abuse) is made more explicit by the amended Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act of 1974, which defines childhood sexual abuse as:
The obscene or pornographic photographing, filming, or depiction of children for commercial purposes, or the rape, molestation, incest, prostitution or other forms of sexual exploitation of children under circumstances which indicate that the children's health or welfare is harmed or threatened thereby. . .
While arriving at a definition of childhood sexual abuse is relatively straight-forward, there is less consensus regarding definitions for the term "incest." For example, incest has been defined by Birkhead (1989) as follows:
. . . all forms of sexual contact, sexual exploitation (e.g. pornography), and sexual overtures initiated by anyone who is related to the child by family ties or through surrogate family ties (surrogat...