ASSESSMENT AND FORENSIC ISSUES - tcavjohn.com

1 ASSESSMENT AND FORENSIC ISSUESB oundaries and Family Practices:Implications for Assessing child AbuseToni Cavanagh JohnsonRichard I. practices related to hygiene, affection behavior,and privacy were studied using a sample of mental health and child wel-fare professionals. The professionals were asked to use their own experi-ence to state up to what age it was acceptable for parents and children ofthe same gender and mixed gender to engage in certain family virtually all family practices, respondents reported lower appropriateages for mixed gender pairs. Family practices were acceptable for motherswith their daughters up to older ages than fathers with their sons. Results in-dicate high variability in the responses regarding appropriate ages, as wellas whether the behavior was ever acceptable.

2 The implications of these sub-Address correspondence via e-mail to Toni Cavanagh Johnson, PhD, at co-indexing entry note]: Boundaries and Family Practices: Implications for Assessing ChildAbuse. Johnson, Toni Cavanagh, and Richard I. Hooper. Co-published simultaneously inJournal of ChildSexual abuse (The Haworth Maltreatment & Trauma Press, an imprint of The Haworth Press, Inc.) Vol. 12,No. 3/4, 2003, ; and:Identifying and Treating Sex Offenders: Current Approaches, Re-search, and Techniques(ed: Robert Geffner et al.)The Haworth Maltreatment & Trauma Press, an im-print of The Haworth Press, Inc., 2003, pp. 103-125. Single or multiple copies of this article areavailable for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service [1-800-HAWORTH, 9:00 - 5 (EST).

3 E-mail 2003 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights Object Identifier: by [Toni Cavanagh Johnson] at 11:11 04 November 2011 stantial differences among professionals who often assess these practices as soft signs related to abuse are discussed.[Article copies available for a feefrom The Haworth Document Delivery Service: 1-800-HAWORTH. E-mail Website:< > 2003by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.] abuse , age boundaries, clinician responses, familypractices, hygiene, affection, privacy, appropriate touch, sex abuse as-sessmentBOUNDARY CONCERNS Boundaries is a term that can refer to the often unspoken conven-tions that people follow regarding interpersonal behaviors. There areemotional, physical, sexual, role, and other boundaries that are set,sometimes unconsciously, between people.

4 Many factors such as age,culture, religion and upbringing can influence boundaries. Obviousboundary violations occur when a child s genitals are penetrated or fon-dled. Yet, there are more subtle, personal boundary violations that maybe a part of or a prelude to sexual abuse , or intrusive behaviors that arenot illegal but inappropriate and confusing to welfare workers and mental health providers are frequentlypresented with children who engage in worrisome sexual behaviors, ei-ther touching their own bodies excessively or touching other children,adolescents, or adults in a way that is considered beyond what is naturaland healthy. Often the first issue that is addressed is whether the childhas been touched on his or her private parts in an abusive manner.

5 Whenthe child does not acknowledge having been sexually abused, theworker is frequently at a loss as to how to area of research more recently explored is the intersection betweencertain family practices and increased sexual behaviors in , Fisher, Broughton, Houston, and Shafran (1998) indicate thatsome family practices are related to an increased variety of sexual behav-iors in children. A factor they label family sexuality which they de-scribe as a more relaxed approach to co-sleeping, co-bathing, familynudity, opportunities to see adult movies, and to witness sexual inter-course accounts for of the variance when looking at sexual behaviorsin children. Friedrich and colleagues do not say that more relaxed family prac-tices necessarily increase disturbed sexual behaviors, only the number and104 IDENTIFYING AND TREATING SEX OFFENDERSD ownloaded by [Toni Cavanagh Johnson] at 11:11 04 November 2011 types of sexual behaviors in which children engage.

6 Because these familypractices can increase sexual behaviors and confusion about boundariesand sexuality, Friedrich et al. created a Safety Checklist (Friedrich, 2002).The Safety Checklist asks parents about many ISSUES related to boundariesincluding questions on co-sleeping, co-bathing, and family nudity in and Johnson (1993) found that when children are experiencingdifficulty with their sexual behaviors, information on the family prac-tices related to co-sleeping, co-bathing, nudity, kissing, and privacy arevaluable to explore. In some cases the child is being exposed to an in-crease in adult behavior, talk, sexual innuendo, and sexual behaviors,and boundaries in the home need to be tightened (Gil & Johnson, 1993).Johnson (1999) describes extensive boundary violations that may oc-cur in the homes of young children who engage in problematic sexualbehaviors.

7 Behaviors include those that decrease an individual s emo-tional and physical privacy, increase intrusive interpersonal practices,and sexualize the atmosphere in the home. The boundary confusion inchildren s homes may be as potent as direct hands-on sexual abuse increating sexual confusion, anxiety and disturbed sexual behaviors inyoung children. Johnson (1999) describes sexually-reactive childrenwhose worrisome sexual behaviors are a product of the confusion andanxiety that can be generated by living in these environments. A seriesof questionnaires to assess boundaries and family practices in homeshas been developed by Johnson (1998a, 1998b).Academic researchers and clinicians have suggested that crossing cer-tain boundaries may be a subtle form ofsexual abuse (Lewis & Janda, 1988;Srouf & Fleeson, 1986).

8 Terms such as emotional incest (Bolton, Morris, &MacEachron, 1989) and sexualized attention (Haynes- Seman & Krugman,1989) have been used to describe behaviors that overstep the boundaries ofacceptable family interactions. The abuse of sexuality model (Bolton, Mor-ris, & MacEachron, 1989) provides descriptions of family environmentsthat may be sexually abusive or sexually overwhelming. In the permissiveenvironments described by the authors, a child may be exposed to nudity oradult sexual behaviors without the adult recognizing that these behaviorsmay be over-stimulating to the BoundariesIn their study entitledDefining Sexual Boundaries Between Childrenand Adults: A Potential New Approach to child Sexual abuse Preven-tion,Disimone-Weiss(2000)surveyed theopinionsofprofessionalsToni Cavanagh Johnson and Richard I.

9 Hooper105 Downloaded by [Toni Cavanagh Johnson] at 11:11 04 November 2011 including child psychologists, child psychiatrists, and pediatricians re-garding when selected behaviors between parents and children relatedto nudity, co-sleeping, and kissing on the lips become inappropriate. Aninteraction between child and parent gender was found for all investi-gated behaviors. The age at which behaviors related to nudity and co-sleep-ing were said to become inappropriate was younger for different-genderparent and child than for same-gender parent and child . The opposite wasfound for kissing. Psychologists and psychiatrists were not found to differsignificantly in their responses, yet pediatricians generally respondedwith significantly older age Spock (1976), whose advice did not come from a concern aboutsexual abuse but from a developmental perspective, wrote:I don t want to claim that all children are bothered by parental nu-dity.

10 No study has been made of normal children. But since weknow that it s a possibility, I think it s a little wiser for parents togive their children the benefit of the doubt, and as a general rule ..keep the child out of the bathroom while a parent is bathing. (p. 45)Due to his belief that it is important to know what is normative sexualsocialization to contrast it with possible sexual abuse , Rosenfeld,Seigal, and Bailey (1987) surveyed parents about sexually related homebehaviors. An anonymous questionnaire was used to survey parents af-fectionate and sexual patterns. Open and closed ended questions wereasked concerning bathing practices. The closed ended questions used afive-point rating scale with three responses: never, sometimes, and al-ways.