Citation

Toews K, Cummings JA, Zagrodney JL. J. Interpers. Violence 2016; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/0886260516675922

PMID

27821642

Abstract

Mothers are blamed for a variety of negative experiences and outcomes of their children, including child sexual abuse (CSA). According to just world hypothesis (JWH), people have a need to view the world as one where there is no such thing as an innocent victim; that is, the world is fair and just. These beliefs predict victim blaming in situations such as sexual abuse, physical abuse, and robbery. However, JWH has not been applied to the examination of mother blame, a situation in which the blame target did not directly experience the traumatic event. We examined this application in two studies: (a) a thematic analysis of focus group discussions and (b) a correlational study. Across both studies, participants identified personal characteristics of the mother that either increased or decreased blame, consistent with JWH. However, when directly asked, most participants denied holding just world beliefs, particularly as related to child sexual abuse. Our results indicate that methodological choices might affect results, and that socially constructed views of "ideal mothers" influence mother blame. We discuss implications for validity of just world theory (JWT), methodological choices, and reduction of mother blame.

© The Author(s) 2016.

Language: en