Experts: Sex Abuse of Teens leaves Scars

By Rob Aman
Valley News Dispatch
Pittsburgh, PA
July 9, 2003

Even students who suppress memories of the incident in attempt to "get past it" eventually face serious, sometimes grave, ramifications.

That is the picture painted by two experts in examining sexual-misconduct cases in schools.

It comes in the wake of the resignations of two Leechburg Area School District teachers in the past six weeks amid allegations of sexual relationships with students.

Robert Stull, the district's former high school band director, resigned amid allegations he had sex with a 17-year-old student, and John Carpenzano, a former fourth-grade teacher at David Leech Elementary School, resigned amid allegations he had sexual relations with a high school student.

Authorities said neither man is likely to be charged with a crime because the students involved either were of legal age to consent to sex or refused to press charges.

"It takes about 10 years of treatment or therapy to help these girls," said Chester Kent, an associate executive secretary of the Tri-State Area School Study Council at the University of Pittsburgh. He's a research associate at the university who has examined cases for more than two decades. "I can't tell you they'll ever (fully recover)."

Kent's experience with this subject is based on more than 70 cases. He said high school and middle school students abused by or involved sexually with teachers may act normally at first but eventually begin to self-destruct.

"When they get a little older and realize they've been used or had, for many girls it is very, very difficult to deal with," Kent said. "They've been robbed of their best years in life because of this predator, and they become very dysfunctional later in life."

The Tri-State council estimates at least 15 percent of students nationwide are victims of sexual abuse by teachers, principals, janitors or other school staff members. Other reports estimate the percentage of abused students as high as 27 percent.

According to Pennsylvania Department of Education reports, from 1998 to May 2002, 118 teachers across the state were reprimanded for conducting sexual relationships with students.

Stephen L. Braveman, a California-based therapist who specializes in sexual abuse, said students either believe they are special for having been chosen by the teacher -- this often occurs with boys involved with female teachers -- or consider it a dark secret not to be discussed.

Either way, the students eventually begin breaking down. They withdraw from school activities, friends and family. Their grades suffer. They sabotage relationships. They turn to drugs and alcohol.

"It blocks out the pain, but it doesn't get rid of the pain," Braveman said. "It festers inside, and it gets worse and worse and worse."

Trust becomes a central issue. A teacher is representative of authority. The student may have a difficult time trusting anyone in authority again.

"Usually the teacher discards them when they aren't a teenager anymore," Braveman said. "They move onto the next student."

Students tend to blame themselves for a teacher's misconduct, according to Pete Delouis, a psychologist of more than 30 years. But he and Roland C. Summit, a nationally renowned sexual-abuse expert, said students are in a poor position to stave off advances.

"They need to be told these are people that have a lot of power and control over them," said Delouis, who works at Patient Care Psychological Services in Oakmont. "They've practiced, and they become good at luring kids in."

A student's age, the length of the misconduct and relation to the teacher become factors in how that student handles a situation.

Most research focuses on high school and middle school students. Research documenting elementary school students who are abused or harassed is minimal, Kent said, making it difficult to judge a young student's ability to recover psychologically.

"Some elementary students at age 10 are able to grow out of this if it isn't a severe case going on over several years," he said.

Some teachers will wait until a student is of consenting age before pursuing him or her. By doing so, the teacher eliminates the possibility of criminal charges if caught.

The age of consent for sexual relations in Pennsylvania is 16, according to the state's Crimes Code.

"I've seen situations where there are high school teachers who track the birthdays of these kids," Kent said. "They didn't begin to groom them, but they didn't take advantage of them until they came to the age of consent."

A student's sex matters little. Boys and girls of all ages can be molested, abused or harassed, although Braveman said girls are more often targeted.

Braveman said about 20 percent of all girls and 5 percent of all boys are sexually abused by someone in authority.

Usually, the students don't attempt to rehabilitate themselves until decades later. Braveman said girls begin to seek help between the ages of 28 and 40.

"Boys typically don't ever come forward," Braveman said. "Those who do won't come forward until the ages of 45 and 72. They find they can no longer ignore the problem. They realize their life is a mess. They have to do something about it."

Braveman said a student's willingness to seek help, and his or her outlook on life before the abuse, can impact the ability to recover.

"I'll suggest that matters a lot more than what age they're at," he said. "Just moving on doesn't solve the problem.

"It builds up inside. It eventually comes back to them."

Rob Amen can be reached at ramen@triweb.com or (724) 224-4661.