Differences in Self-Report Among Incest Family Members

Abstract

A questionnaire study was conducted among incest families to study their perceptions of social background factors, how long the incest relationship lasted, who was involved, the history of incest in the family, emotional and psychological factors, and the consequences of the incest for the family. It was hypothesized that incest offenders, their spouses and incest victims all tend to report the above in a manner that reflect positively upon their own role in the incest relationship. The results showed clear differences in the reposts of the three groups. The paper concludes that such differences in perceptions must be incorporated in family therapy strategies as well as in our knowledge base of incest families.