Award Date

1-1-1994

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Sociology

First Committee Member

Donald E. Carns

Number of Pages

90

Abstract

This sociological study explores the effects an incident of sexual abuse of a minor by a priest has on Catholic parishioners. An interpretation of a comparative analysis was done between a parish in which an incident of sexual abuse of a minor by a priest occurred and a demographically similar parish with no such reported incident. Data from face-to-face survey interviews (N = 100) suggests that members of the Catholic Church whose parish priest had sexually abused children were more likely to indicate lower levels of approval toward Church policies than parishioners whose parish had no reported incident of abuse. Furthermore, it was found that differences in levels of religiosity affect parishioners' trust and confidence in the Catholic Church.

Keywords

Catholic; Child; Comparative; Molestation; Parishioners; Priests; Reactions; Sexual; Study

Controlled Subject

Criminology; Clergy

File Format

pdf

File Size

2160.64 KB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

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Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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