Karwan, Arvind K., authorChavez, Ernest, advisorBloom, Larry, advisorSwaim, Randall, committee memberBishop, Pamela, committee member2007-01-032007-01-032012http://hdl.handle.net/10217/67937The present study investigated possible differences in how male and female therapists respond to a disclosure of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) from a male or female client. A total of N = 249 practicing psychologists read a vignette describing a disclosure of CSA by a client. Participants were then asked to complete quantitative and qualitative measures on disclosure responses, attitudes toward survivors of CSA, and socially desirable response patterns. Multivariate analyses indicated that, after accounting for attitudes toward survivors of CSA, male and female therapists did not significantly differ on their responses to a CSA disclosure, and that male and female clients did not elicit significantly different responses. Data from the present study was compared with that of a previous study on college student responses to CSA disclosures. These post-hoc analyses revealed that college students were more likely than therapists to provide emotionally supportive, distracting, and egocentric responses to a CSA disclosure. Analyses also revealed that therapists endorsed significantly more negative attitudes toward survivors of CSA than college students. Implications for clinical practice and future directions for research are discussed.born digitaldoctoral dissertationsengCopyright and other restrictions may apply. User is responsible for compliance with all applicable laws. For information about copyright law, please see https://libguides.colostate.edu/copyright.adult survivorsattitudeschild sexual abusedisclosure responsestherapist responsestreatmentText