UO expert calls for honest fight against child sex abuse.

Byline: Tim Christie The Register-Guard

Writing in the influential journal Science, a group of experts led by a University of Oregon professor have challenged researchers and policymakers to do a better job examining and combatting sexual abuse of children by adults.

Lead author of the one-page "Policy Forum" article in the April 22 issue is Jennifer Freyd, a UO psychology professor and national expert on child sex abuse.

The fact that some adults lure or force children into sexual activity is an uncomfortable topic for most people, which is one reason why society has tended to turn a blind eye to the problem, Freyd said at a campus news conference.

"But we need to talk about this, because there are many damaging misperceptions and even myths about child abuse," she said.

The Science article, whose authors represent the fields of law, medicine, political science, psychiatry and psychology, makes three specific recommendations:

Expansion of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, a federally funded coalition now operating in 54 cities that provides community-based treatment to children and their families to address the public health consequences of child trauma.

Better research, including more interdisciplinary coordination and establishment of international consensus panels, to determine the prevalence of child sex abuse and identifying its causes, consequences, prevention and treatment.

Establishment of an Institute of Child Abuse and Interpersonal Violence within the National Institutes of Health.

Such an institute would increase visibility and credibility of child sex abuse as a public health problem, Freyd said, and would lead to better funding and coordination of research.

Child sex abuse is both a crime and a public health problem, Freyd said. It's associated with serious mental and physical health problems, substance abuse, victimization and criminality in adulthood.

Societal costs of child sex abuse are estimated to be $24.5 billion each year, according to a U.S. Department of Justice report.

According to the Science article, child sex abuse has been reported by 20 percent of women and by 5 to 10 percent of men worldwide. Surveys likely underreport the problem. And it's estimated that 90 percent of cases are never reported to authorities, with victims silenced by "the pervasive climate of fear, social taboo and myth," Freyd said.

Because of that silence, society does not fully grasp the magnitude of the problem or its cost, Freyd said.

What makes the problem hard to confront is that most child sex abuse is committed by a relative or someone known to the child, not by strangers or celebrities, she said.

"This fact is so threatening to our social fabric that we hide from it," she said. "But we must break through the unawareness and denial for the good of victims, children and society."

It's not unusual for Science to tackle policy issues - most issues have a Policy Forum - but this is the first time the publication has addressed child sex abuse, Freyd said.

David Spiegel, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Stanford University School of Medicine, said publication of the policy article in the nation's leading general science journal "is a tremendous opportunity to shed light on an important and neglected problem."

"Science is most needed where passion overshadows reason," Spiegel said.

Freyd's research has delved into what she calls betrayal trauma - a theory that says abuse committed by a caregiver can causes the victim to suppress memories of the abuse until later in life.

Freyd, who was recently named editor of the Journal of Trauma & Dissociation, directs a lab at the UO investigating the psychology of trauma, with a focus on memory and awareness for trauma, and on the physical and mental health consequences of betrayal trauma.

CAPTION(S):

UO psychology professor Jennifer Freyd and co-authors recommend establishment of a national institute of child abuse, better research and expansion of a federally funded trauma network. Thomas Boyd / The Register-Guard