Rind Et Al. Controversy - Subsequent Research and Legacy

Subsequent Research and Legacy

Numerous studies and professional clinical experience in the field of psychology, both before and after Rind et al.'s publications, have long supported the stance that children cannot consent to sexual activity and that child and adolescent sexual abuse cause harm. The then American Psychological Association CEO Raymond D. Fowler succinctly reiterated the prevailing view in a 1999 letter to Congressman Delay "that children cannot consent to sexual activity with adults," and "sexual activity between children and adults should never be considered or labeled as harmless or acceptable". Others, like Rind et al. and Ulrich et al., counter that that prevailing "simplistic" view of CSA fails to completely account for the variety and complexity of documented sexual experience that many insist, for strong moral reasons, "cannot" exist.

A study published in The Scientific Review of Mental Health Practice attempted to replicate the Rind study, correcting for methodological and statistical problems identified by Dallam and others. It supported some of the Rind findings, both with respect to the percentage of variance in later psychological outcomes accounted for by sexual abuse and in relation to the finding that there was a gender difference in the experience of child sexual abuse, such that females reported more negative effects. However it also acknowledged the limitations of the findings (college student sample, self-report data), and did not endorse Rind's recommendation to abandon the use of the term 'child sexual abuse' in cases of apparent consent in favor of the term 'adult-child sex'. In their conclusion, the authors address the objection that Rind's work and their own would give support to those who deny that child sexual abuse can cause harm: "The authors of the current research would hesitate to support such a general statement. Instead, our results, and the results of the Rind et al. meta-analysis, can be interpreted as providing a hopeful and positive message to therapists, parents, and children. Child sexual abuse does not necessarily lead to long-term harm."

There has been greater emphasis in subsequent work on the range of responses that are possible from victims. For example, a few studies make reference to the paper's findings about "consensual" encounters, but approach it from the opposite direction (i.e. that the use of force causes more intense negative outcomes). Heather Ulrich, author of the aforementioned replication of the meta-analysis, later drew on the findings to study the reasons for the variability in outcomes of CSA victims, such as attributional style (individual’s causal explanations for why the abuse occurred), family environment, and social support.