Methodological and Ethical Challenges Associated With Child Self-Report of Maltreatment

Abstract

The conduct of research in the area of child abuse and neglect may be one of the most difficult tasks in social science research. One requirement for valid research is knowledge of the type and amount of exposure. Official reports have been demonstrated to provide a serious undercount of the frequency of maltreatment, and parent report is of limited usefulness. LongSCAN, a consortium of longitudinal studies of abuse and neglect, made the decision to ask children for self-report, but with five independent study sites with unique study-to-sample relationships, ethically implementing this choice demanded customized participant protocols. This article describes the consortium's approach to asking children for direct reports at age 12, the relevant methodological and ethical challenges, and solutions developed with institutional review boards at 4 of the 5 study sites. The wording of consents and the variations in protocol related to reporting to Child Protective Services are discussed.

Using Multiple Informants to Assess Child Maltreatment: Concordance between Case File and Youth Self-Report

“…First, specific information contained within case files can differ from county to county, and thus the frequency and severity of abuse may be difficult to compare across samples. Second, although most studies on child maltreatment include youth who have substantiated cases of abuse and/or neglect as the indicator or confirmation that their sample is indeed composed of maltreated youth (Barnes, Noll, Putnam, & Trickett, 2009; Shenk, Noll, Putnam, & Trickett, 2010), this approach may miss important information about a child’s abuse history, as some forms of abuse are easier substantiate than others (Knight et al, 2000). …”

The cycle of victimization: The relationship between childhood maltreatment and adolescent peer victimization

“…and "Has an adult ever kicked or punched you?" These items were developed by LONGSCAN project researchers based on definitions of abuse developed by Barnett, Manly, and Cicchetti (1993) and have been demonstrated as reliable and valid measures of maltreatment (Everson et al, 2008;Knight et al, 2000;Nooner et al, 2010). Respondents reported if each item had occurred prior to age 12, and if any of the items were endorsed, the child was considered to have experienced physical abuse.…”

“…and "Has anyone ever gotten you to touch their private parts or bottom in some way?" Similar to the measure of physical abuse, these items were also developed for LONGSCAN (Everson et al, 2008;Knight et al, 2000;Nooner et al, 2010) based on definitions of child sexual abuse endorsed by Barnett et al (1993). Youth reported whether or not each behavior had occurred at any time prior to age 12, and if any of the survey items were affirmed, the child was considered to have been sexually abused.…”

Childhood psychological maltreatment subtypes and adolescent depressive symptoms

“…The sexual abuse measure reflected definitions provided by Barnett and colleagues (1996). A pre-test was conducted with a small number (n = 24) of outpatient adolescents to ensure comprehension of question wording (Knight et al, 2000). Agreement between youth self-reports and maltreatment codes abstracted from CPS reports was poor, indicating low convergent validity.…”