Keyword: meta-analysis

Schuster, Filip; Associations of the ten original Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) with mental health impairments after controlling for the other ACEs (meta-analysis)
The ten original ACEs (including emotional, physical, and "sexual abuse") are associated with mental impairment among the people affected in countless studies. The corresponding bivariate associations are to a considerable extent confounding bias. The extent of the causal relationships is unresolved. [...]
Methode: A systematic literature search was conducted to search for studies that determined the associations of each of the ten original ACEs with mental impairment in "minors" or adults after controlling for each of
the nine other original ACEs (and other ACEs, if applicable). [...]
Conclusions: The causal relationships between the ten original ACEs and mental health impairments are smaller than widely suspected. In the case of several original ACEs, long-term important negative health consequences
are not to be assumed. The ACEs concept should be fundamentally
reconsidered.
Limitations: Also, because of the many uncontrolled confounding variables (including genes and other ACEs), the associations identified by the metaanalysis are not precise causal effect sizes.
Seto, Michael C., Hanson Karl R., & Babchishin Kelly M.; Contact Sexual Offending by Men With Online Sexual Offenses; Annals of Sex Research · December 2010
Abstract
There is much concern about the likelihood that online sexual offenders particularly online child pornography offenders) have either committed or will commit offline sexual offenses involving contact with a victim. This study addresses this question in two metaanalyses:
[1] the first examined the contact sexual offense histories of online offenders,
whereas
[2] the second examined the recidivism rates from follow-up studies of online
offenders.
[1] The first meta-analysis found that approximately 1 in 8 online offenders (12%)
have an officially known contact sexual offense history at the time of their index offense (k = 21, N = 4,464). Approximately one in two (55%) online offenders admitted to a contact sexual offense in the six studies that had self-report data (N = 523).
[2] The second meta-analysis revealed that 4.6% of online offenders committed a new sexual offense of some kind during a 1.5- to 6-year follow-up (k = 9, N = 2,630); 2.0% committed a contact sexual offense and 3.4% committed a new child pornography offense.
The results of these two quantitative reviews suggest that there may be a distinct subgroup of online-only offenders who pose relatively low risk of committing
contact sexual offenses in the future.
Ulrich, Heather, Randolph Mickey, & Acheson Shawn; Child sexual abuse - A replication of the meta-analytic examination ...; The Scientific review of Mental Health Practice ; 4(2, Fall/winter 2005-2006), pp 37-51,
Research conducted during the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s consistently reported widely accepted negative outcomes associated with child sexual abuse. 
In 1998, Rind, Tromovitch, and Bauserman conducted a meta-analysis challenging the four most often reported correlates of child sexual abuse. 
The present study attempted to reexamine the four main objectives of the Rind et al. (1998) study, correcting for methodological and statistical problems identified by Dallam et al. (2001) and Ondersma et al. (2001). 
The current meta-analysis supported the findings by Rind et al. (1998) in that child sexual abuse was found to account for 1% of the variance in later psychological outcomes, whereas family environment accounted for 5.9% of the variance. 
In addition, the current meta-analysis supported the finding that there was a gender difference in the experience of the child sexual abuse, such that females reported more negative immediate effects, current feelings, and self-reported effects. 
The implications of these findings, problems with replicating the Rind et al. (1998) meta-analysis, and future directions are discussed.