Dimensions of Child Sexual Abuse Allegations: What is Unusual and What is Not?

O’Donohue, William; Benuto, Lorraine T.; Fondren, Rachel N.; Tolle, Lauren Woodward; Vijay, Aditi; Fanetti, Matthew

doi:10.1080/15228932.2013.838103

Cited by 8 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…In conclusion, the literature confirms that under normal and stress conditions, in narratives of children, age is the best predictor of narrative accuracy, completeness, and the cognitive ability to attribute meaning to events (O'Donohue et al, 2013b).…”

Section: Age and Traumatic Narrativementioning

confidence: 88%

“…The legal reliability is assessed in relation to contents and to narrative organization, which essentially depend on the narrative expertise and the cognitive competences (Kleinknecht & Beike, 2004;Kulkofsky, Wang, & Ceci, 2008;O'Donohue, Benuto, & Cirlugea, 2013a;Saywitz, Snyder, & Lamphear, 1996). As we know, the narrative abilities mature with age and level of development, but they can also differ on the basis of the emotional connotation of the experiences, of their traumatic seriousness, and of the presence of the traumatic consequences (for example, posttraumatic stress disorder [PTSD]; Engelberg & Christianson, 2002;Miragoli, Di Blasio, & Procaccia, 2009;O'Donohue, Benuto, Fondren, Tolle, Vijay, & Fanetti, 2013b). In this paper, we analyze the literature that investigates the influence of age and the presence of PTSD on the characteristics of the traumatic narratives in order to better understand the testimony of children who are victims of sexual abuse.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Language Use and PTSD Symptoms: Content Analyses of Allegations of Child Sexual Abuse

Miragoli

Procaccia

Blasio

2014

Journal of Forensic Psychology Practice

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The objective of this article is to understand how traumatized children\ud report traumatic narratives. This study aims to explore the\ud mediating effects of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms\ud on the relationship between child age and narrative characteristics\ud in the allegations of child sexual abuse. Some characteristics\ud of traumatic narratives were analyzed in a group of 58 victims\ud of sexual abuse (M = 10; SD = 3.5 years), including 29 children\ud (50%) with all the symptoms of PTSD. Results were consistent\ud with a model of PTSD symptoms as a mediator of the relationship\ud between age and sensory impressions, emotional nodes, and\ud cognitive distancing

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Section: Age and Traumatic Narrativementioning

confidence: 88%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Language Use and PTSD Symptoms: Content Analyses of Allegations of Child Sexual Abuse

Miragoli

Procaccia

Blasio

2014

Journal of Forensic Psychology Practice

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“…This may be due to the direct approach defence lawyers took when overtly accusing children of being coached and lying, which can be particularly traumatizing for young persons and impact upon their testimony in the courtroom (Hayes & Bunting, 2013). The fact that children contradict themselves within therapy contexts very little when disclosing about CSA further highlight the challenges and pressures that are exerted on children within the court setting (O'Donohue et al, 2013).…”

Section: Child Contradictionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disclosure of Child Sexual Abuse: A Review of Factors that Impact Proceedings in the Courtroom

Skinner¹

2020

Reviewing Crime Psychology

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The act of disclosure is a key moment in the process of bringing alleged child sexual abuse (CSA) to court and is, therefore, a frequent point of contention for lawyers. Yet no article has systematically addressed the current applied psychological literature regarding the act of disclosure by alleged CSA victims relating to the courtroom process. This is a survey-style literature review, which seeks to establish the factors necessary for academics, practitioners, jurors and policy makers alike to study in order to be fully informed about the domain of CSA disclosure both before and then inside the courtroom.Children often delay disclosing for a long period and this may be affected by specific case characteristics. Lawyers question children about their disclosures in very different ways with both the defence and prosecution utilizing developmentally inappropriate questioning methods to advance their respective arguments. Children also respond differently to the prosecution and defence, with variations in both content and detail provided within their answerA challenge exists to be able to balance the securing of accurate testimonyespecially given developmental differenceswith the freedom of defendants to challenge such crucial evidence in the manner of their choice. This article highlights some of the implications of the current system which can effect any optimum assessment of the important process of victim disclosure, both outside and within the courtroom.

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“…Möglicherweise liegt das daran, dass Ansprechpersonen generell schockiert reagieren, häufig dem Kind unterstellen, zu lügen, die Aussagen des Kindes ignorieren, herunterspielen oder es bestrafen und zurückwiesen (Allnock u. Miller, 2013;Moors u. Webber, 2012;Schaeffer, Leventhal, Asnes, 2011;Ullman, 2003). Negative Reaktionen können in Einzelfällen so weit führen, dass Betroffene ihre Aussagen zurücknehmen (London, Bruck, Ceci, Shuman, 2005;Malloy et al, 2007;O'Donohue et al, 2013). Häufiger geschieht dies bei jüngeren Opfern und bei fehlender Unterstützung (Malloy et al, 2007 …”

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Disclosure von Jugendlichen in Jugendhilfeeinrichtungen und Internaten nach sexueller Gewalterfahrung

Rau

Ohlert

Fegert

et al. 2016

Praxis der Kinderpsychologie und Kinderpsychiatrie

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Summary Disclosure of Adolescents in Residential Care Institutions and Boarding Schools after Exposure to Sexual ViolenceIn international research, many papers exist about the issue of disclosure after having experienced sexual violence. However, specific research regarding disclosure processes of children and adolescents in institutional care are missing, even though those are particularly often affected by sexual violence. In the Germany-wide study "Sprich mit!", adolescents from the age of 15 up (n = 322; average age 16,69 (SD = 1,3); 57,1 % males) who live in residential care or boarding schools were asked for experiences of sexual violence and their consequences by means of a self-report questionnaire. Results showed that the majority of the adolescents (82 %) entrusted themselves to someone, mostly towards peers (56 %) and less frequent towards adults (24 %). Boys and girls opened up equally often, regardless of the severity of the experienced violence. Adolescents who entrusted themselves towards their peers indicated retrospectively more satisfaction than those entrusting themselves towards adults, even if there were no consequences following the disclosure. Considering that the disclosure towards peers did not initiate a process of help, adolescents in institutional care should be better informed about relevant possibilities to entrust themselves and receive support.Prax. Kinderpsychol. Kinderpsychiat. 65/2016, 638-654 Keywords disclosure -adolescents -institutional care -consequences -helping process ZusammenfassungInternational liegen zahlreiche Arbeiten zum Thema "Disclosure" (sich jemandem anvertrauen) nach sexuellen Gewalterfahrungen vor. Jedoch fehlen Arbeiten speziell zu DisclosureProzessen von Kindern und Jugendlichen in institutioneller Erziehung, obwohl diese von sexueller Gewalt besonders häufig betroffen sind. Im Rahmen der Studie "Sprich mit!" wur-

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Dimensions of Child Sexual Abuse Allegations: What is Unusual and What is Not?

Cited by 8 publications

References 24 publications

Language Use and PTSD Symptoms: Content Analyses of Allegations of Child Sexual Abuse

Language Use and PTSD Symptoms: Content Analyses of Allegations of Child Sexual Abuse

Disclosure of Child Sexual Abuse: A Review of Factors that Impact Proceedings in the Courtroom

Disclosure von Jugendlichen in Jugendhilfeeinrichtungen und Internaten nach sexueller Gewalterfahrung

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