To investigate the effects on the priesthood of the relatively recent accusations against priests for sexual abuse, anonymous responses from a sample of 45 Roman Catholic priests were analyzed. The Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales (Lovibond & Lovibond, 2004); the Stress Profile (Nowack, 1999); and a 15-item Informational Questionnaire which focused on support, stress, and similar factors were used. The results from the Questionnaire make it clear that the priests are adversely affected by the situation and fear false accusations. Surprisingly, they expect little support from either the bishop or their fellow priests. Social support was found to be inversely related to stress, but only support from peers and the bishop. Support from parishioners and family had effectively no effect on perceived stress. Curiously, the same relationships were found between social support and fear of false accusation. The greater the support from peers and the bishop the less the fear, but the level of support from parishioners and friends was not related to fear of false accusation. Support from family members or the bishop bore no relationship to the health status variables. Support from fellow priests and support from family were related to only some of the health variables. The results concerning the relationships between level of stress and coping styles indicate that priests are having difficulty successfully using positive coping styles to reduce their current stress level. Rest and relaxation were negatively related to the priests current fear of being accused, but none of the other relationships between styles of coping and fear of false accusation were significant. There were no significant relationships between stress minimization and any of the health variables. Rest and relaxation were positively associated with good health habits. Anxiety, as measured by the DASS, correlated well with the DASS stress scores, but not with the other measures of stress, current level, change in level, or the Stress Profile score. However, most priests reported low levels of anxiety. Although there was a significant relationship found between anxiety and fear of false accusation for priests in general, anxiety was not related to fear of personally being accused. No relationships between anxiety and any of the health status variables were close to significant. Overall the priests rated themselves as not depressed, so no relationships between depression and stress or fear of false accusations were found. False accusations are not limited to the clergy; some of the other vulnerable populations were discussed. In addition, considerations for reducing the consequences of the false allegation situation were offered.

Key Words: fear, false accusation of sexual misconduct