Legislature(1999 - 2000)
04/15/1999 03:08 PM House HES
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
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= bill was previously heard/scheduled
HJR 36 - AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION REPORT Number 0473 CO-CHAIRMAN COGHILL announced the next order of business as House Joint Resolution No. 36, Relating to rejecting the conclusions in a recent article published by the American Psychological Association that suggests that sexual relationships between adults and children might be positive for children; and urging the President of the United States and the United States Congress to similarly reject these conclusions. Number 0503 CO-CHAIRMAN DYSON, sponsor, commented that it is sad that they even have to deal with this issue. The American Psychological Association has published many scholarly papers over the years on subjects dealing with human behavior. By their admission, they have published 40 or 50 that detail and document the negative affects of child sexual abuse. Last year they published a paper, "A Meta-Analytic Examination of Assumed Properties of Child Sexual Abuse Using College Samples" that was interesting and in startling contrast to the results and conclusions of other investigators. It was a literature search of self-reporting college students. In their conclusion, they suggested that child sexual abuse may not necessarily be as harmful as assumed before. They suggested that people dealing in this field, including policymakers, may want to adopt less-pejorative terms in describing the activity. They even suggested that some or many of the people interviewed had a positive result from their sexual contact with older people. Alaska has taken a strong position that adult sexual contact with children is a felony. Last year's bill made it clearer that the persistence of that activity is a major factor in authorizing the DFYS to remove children from their home, and if it continues, parental rights can be terminated. CO-CHAIRMAN DYSON is concerned that unchallenged, this information will go on to be used to intimidate or influence those with a strong stand on protecting children from being sexually exploited. He was careful not to question their findings; he questioned their methodology, but agreed their findings were logical given their methodology. In their packets is information from another researcher who highlighted some of the problems in the methodology. He believes it is an unwarranted leap to go from generalizing about a self-reporting, young college group to the general population. He believes that many of the dysfunctions from child sexual abuse don't show up until later on in life, often in a marriage or close relationship. CO-CHAIRMAN DYSON added that since this article was published, the APA has been particularly active in saying that they never endorsed the conclusions of this article. Most of the other articles that they have published in the field have shown that child sexual abuse is harmful. The APA was the vehicle of publishing it; they believe it is helpful information to be added to the body of knowledge and he doesn't quarrel with that. There are a couple of nationally active groups who encourage adult-child relationships who claim this as a great backup for their perspective; that it is good for adults to be involved with children sexually. Number 0906 REPRESENTATIVE BRICE wanted to be sure they were not talking about someone 18 years old dating someone 16 or 17 and asked for a clearer definition of age ranges. Number 0944 LISA TORKELSON replied that on page 46 of the study in their packets, it distinguishes between "adult-adolescent sex" and "adult-child sex," but she doesn't know where this study makes the age distinctions. Number 1114 RHEA FARBERMAN, Associate Executive Director, Public Communications Office, American Psychological Association, testified via teleconference from Puerto Rico. She thanked the committee for the opportunity to clarify the APA's position on child sexual abuse. The APA agrees with the resolution. She read from a prepared statement: The American Psychological Association (APA), through its members, sponsored initiatives and publishing, has a long record in the area of the prevention and treatment of child abuse and neglect including sexual abuse. In the national legislative arena, APA has played an active role in advocating for programs expanding child abuse prevention, treatment and research. And, through its Coordinating Committee on Child Abuse and Neglect, APA has been a leader in helping the mental health profession document and treat the ill effects of child abuse. In 1990, the APA council of Representatives, which is our governing body, passed a resolution calling for a national strategy to prevent and treat child abuse and neglect and called such action a matter of the highest urgency. APA's position is, therefore, very clear I think: The sexual abuse of children in wrong and harmful to children and the families. As a publisher of psychological research, APA publishes thousands of research reports every year. But, publication of a finding of a research project within an APA journal is in no way an endorsement of that finding by the Association. MS. FARBERMAN stated anyone who suggests that APA is anything but vehemently opposed to child sexual abuse is either ignorant of the work that the Association and its members have done in the area, or is not with the majority of the psychological research on the issue, or is attempting to distort APA's position. The APA applauds the committee's call for further research into the affects of child sexual abuse and for treatment for families and children to recover from it. She went on to read: No responsible mental health organization, including the American Psychological Association, endorses pedophilia or denies its negative effect on children. Any statement that suggests otherwise is just a distortion. The American Psychiatric Association, which publishes the DSM-IV [Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition] writes: "An adult who engages in sexual activity with a child is performing a criminal and immoral act which never can be considered normal or socially acceptable behavior." This statement is fully consistent with the policies of the American Psychological Association and with the views of mental health professionals all over the world. MS. FARBERMAN suggested they add language to the proposed resolution which adopts some of the language the APA has put out in their statement which clarifies APA's position. They think it is important for the public to know that the mental health community says loud and clear that pedophilia is wrong and that child sexual abuse is harmful. Number 1297 CO-CHAIRMAN DYSON asked Ms. Farberman if the APA regularly has a disclaimer in their publications. MS. FARBERMAN explained that a disclaimer appears on the inside front cover of the journal, and it states that APA in no way endorses the research findings of any particular study. Number 1327 CO-CHAIRMAN DYSON asked if the papers APA receives are subjected to peer review in the selection process for publication. MS. FARBERMAN answered yes, all of their articles go through a peer review process before they are published. REPRESENTATIVE KEMPLEN asked at what age does childhood end. MS. FARBERMAN answered that one of the complications depends on what study is looked at in interpreting the literature. The legal definition is 18. Different studies have looked at different developmental phases. One of the research questions that the authors may have wanted to look at is, "is sexual abuse more harmful to younger children than older children." That might be a legitimate research question. Regardless of the answer to that question, it is still wrong and is still harmful to children. REPRESENTATIVE KEMPLEN commented that childcare is usually provided through sixth grade, and he asked for clarification on the gray area between childhood and adulthood when children become youths. He asked if Ms. Farberman if she had any sources so he could better understand that. Number 1356 MS. FARBERMAN offered to look into it for him. She guessed there are some studies that broke down age groups and looked at young children, children, teenagers and older teenagers. One of the questions researchers wanted to look at was the degree of harm based on age group and developmental maturity. She believes the bottom line is that the great majority of literature shows that harm is done to children no matter whether they are six or 16. CO-CHAIRMAN DYSON asked for a definition of "meta-analytic." MS. FARBERMAN replied it means a study of studies. The researchers in this case looked at a number of studies and pooled all the data from all the studies and looked at them as one large data set. Number 1532 CO-CHAIRMAN DYSON assured her that the resolution does not infer that the APA endorsed the suggestions and conclusions in this article. They will entertain her suggested amendment. Number 1567 DEBRA GERRISH came forward to testify on behalf of herself. She is a survivor of child abuse, and she shared her experience of being sexually abused as a child. She had blocked those experiences out of her mind because they were so painful. She agreed that a child is a child until he/she is 18. The child's mind works like a child and doesn't know how to make those choices, so there could be a child willing to go along with the sexual abuse to hold a family together. She explained she was a willing child because she thought it would hold her family together. She has had to deal with depression and post-traumatic stress from her relationship with both of her parents. She encouraged the committee to pass this resolution. Any child who is out there being sexually abused is going to be affected. MS. GERRISH believes that childcare isn't provided after age 12 is because society says "We can't afford childcare after 12." Most of the children who get in trouble get in trouble between the time school ends and parents get home. "If we were a society that truly cared about children, we would have some kind of childcare, some programs in place, to help those kids to keep them out of trouble." MS. GERRISH requested that the surgeon general be added to list of people who will receive a copy of the resolution. Number 1705 CO-CHAIRMAN DYSON noted that is a good idea. He also suggested that Ms. Gerrish could also represent scores other victims and survivors of sexual abuse who don't speak up and report it. Number 1756 CO-CHAIRMAN DYSON made a motion to adopt Amendment 1 which added on line 22 ", Surgeon General of the United States,". CO-CHAIRMAN COGHILL asked whether there was any objection. There being none, Amendment 1 was adopted. The committee took an at-ease from 3:40 p.m. to 3:44 p.m. Number 1808 CO-CHAIRMAN DYSON made a motion to adopt Amendment 2 which will be on page 2, between line 5 and 6, which adds an additional whereas. It reads: WHEREAS virtually all studies in this area, including those published by the American Psychological Association, condemn child sexual abuse as criminal and harmful to children; and CO-CHAIRMAN COGHILL asked whether there was any objection. There being none, Amendment 2 was adopted. Number 1957 REPRESENTATIVE WHITAKER made a motion to move the proposed CSHJR 36 from the committee with individual recommendations and zero fiscal note. There being no objection, CSHJR 36(HES) moved from the House Health, Education and Social Services Standing Committee. CO-CHAIRMAN DYSON informed the committee that this study was brought to their attention by Representative Ogan's office, and they have been supportive of this. The committee took an at-ease from 3:48 p.m. to 3:49 p.m.
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