When Is a Child’s Forensic Statement Deemed Credible? A Comparison of Physical and Sexual Abuse Cases

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 196-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irit Hershkowitz ◽  
Eran P. Melkman ◽  
Ronit Zur
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Child Sexual Abuse ◽  
Path Analysis ◽  
Physical Abuse ◽  
National Sample ◽  
Child Physical Abuse ◽  
Predicting Factors ◽  
Cognitive Delay ◽  
Physical And Sexual Abuse ◽  
Made In

A large national sample of 4,775 reports of child physical and sexual abuse made in Israel in 2014 was analyzed in order to examine whether assessments of credibility would vary according to abuse type, physical or sexual, and whether child and event characteristics contributing to the probability that reports of abuse would be determined as credible would be similar or different in child physical abuse (CPA) and child sexual abuse (CSA) cases. Results revealed that CPA reports were less likely to be viewed as credible (41.9%) compared to CSA reports (56.7%). Multigroup path analysis, however, indicated equivalence in predicting factors. In a unified model for both types of abuse, salient predictors of a credible judgment were older age, lack of a cognitive delay, and the alleged abusive event being a onetime less severe act. Over and beyond the effects of these factors, abuse type significantly contributed to the prediction of credibility judgments.

scholarly journals Comparing Reports of Child Sexual and Physical Abuse Using Child Welfare Agency Data in Two Jurisdictions with Different Mandatory Reporting Laws

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 75
Author(s):  
Ben Mathews ◽  
Leah Bromfield ◽  
Kerryann Walsh
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Child Welfare ◽  
Child Sexual Abuse ◽  
Physical Abuse ◽  
Western Australia ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Mandatory Reporting ◽  
Child Physical Abuse ◽  
Positive Effects

Empirical analysis has found that mandatory reporting legislation has positive effects on case identification of child sexual abuse both initially and over the long term. However, there is little analysis of the initial and ongoing impact on child protection systems of the rate of reports that are made if a reporting duty for child sexual abuse is introduced, especially when compared with rates of reports for other kinds of child maltreatment. This research analysed government administrative data at the unique child level over a seven-year period to examine trends in reports of child sexual abuse, compared with child physical abuse, in two Australian states having different socio-legal dimensions. Data mining generated descriptive statistics and rates per 100,000 children involved in reports per annum, and time trend sequences in the seven-year period. The first state, Western Australia, introduced the legislative reporting duty in the middle of the seven-year period, and only for sexual abuse. The second state, Victoria, had possessed mandatory reporting duties for both sexual and physical abuse for over a decade. Our analysis identified substantial intra-state increases in the reporting of child sexual abuse attributable to the introduction of a new legislative reporting duty, and heightened public awareness resulting from major social events. Victoria experienced nearly three times as many reports of physical abuse as Western Australia. The relative burden on the child protection system was most clearly different in Victoria, where reports of physical abuse were relatively stable and two and a half times higher than for sexual abuse. Rates of children in reports, even at their single year peak, indicate sustainable levels of reporting for child welfare agencies. Substantial proportions of reports were made by both legislatively mandated reporters, and non-mandated community members, suggesting that government agencies would benefit from engaging with communities and professions to enhance a desirable reporting practice.

Interpersonal Difficulties Mediate the Relationship Between Child Sexual Abuse and Depression Symptoms

2015 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 163-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura C. Wilson ◽  
Angela Scarpa
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Child Sexual Abuse ◽  
Physical Abuse ◽  
Child Physical Abuse ◽  
Interpersonal Functioning ◽  
Depression Symptoms ◽  
Abuse Survivors ◽  
Sexual Abuse Survivors ◽  
Interpersonal Difficulties ◽  
The Relationship

This study examined the influence of interpersonal functioning as a mediator in the relationship between child sexual abuse and depression symptoms, after accounting for the influence of child physical abuse. The research questions build on the existing knowledge base by examining mechanisms of adult adjustment among child sexual abuse survivors. In the current study, 2,892 young adult women (18–29 years old; M = 19.06) reported on child sexual and physical abuse, 5 domains of interpersonal functioning, and depression symptoms. The results supported aggression, sensitivity, ambivalence, and lack of sociability as mediators in the relationship between child sexual abuse and depression symptoms. These results suggest that interpersonal difficulties related to hostility, emotional reactivity, inability to collaborate, and isolation may be of particular interest when understanding depression in child sexual abuse survivors. The findings support interpersonal problems as a key mechanism of depression symptoms following child sexual abuse and is even demonstrated when examining long-term outcomes and controlling for child physical abuse. The hypotheses and findings are discussed in the context of interpersonal psychotherapy for depression.

scholarly journals Children’s Disclosures of Physical Abuse in a Population-Based Sample

2020 ◽  
pp. 088626052093444
Author(s):  
Hanna-Mari Lahtinen ◽  
Aarno Laitila ◽  
Julia Korkman ◽  
Noora Ellonen ◽  
Kirsi Honkalampi
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Child Sexual Abuse ◽  
Physical Abuse ◽  
Physical Violence ◽  
Female Gender ◽  
Population Based ◽  
Child Physical Abuse ◽  
Child Victim ◽  
Abuse Disclosure ◽  
Sexual Abuse Disclosure

Few studies have explored the disclosure of child physical abuse although child sexual abuse disclosure has been widely studied and debated for years. The present study explores the characteristics of child physical abuse disclosures and compares them to previously published findings on child sexual abuse disclosure from the same data. The data consist of a representative sample of 11,364 sixth and ninth graders. Participants responded to a wide variety of questions concerning experiences of violence, including child physical abuse and child sexual abuse, in the Finnish Child Victim Survey conducted in 2013. Within this sample, the prevalence of child physical abuse was 4.1%. Children reporting abuse experiences also responded to questions regarding disclosure, reactions encountered during disclosure, and potential reasons for nondisclosure. Findings show that most of the children who disclosed physical violence had disclosed to their mother. The overall disclosure rate of child physical abuse was 74%. However, only 42% had disclosed to adults, and even fewer had reported their experiences to authorities (12%). The most common reason for nondisclosure was that the youth did not consider the experience sufficiently serious to report (53%). These findings were largely in line with the child sexual abuse disclosure rates in our previous study. Analyses of variables associated with disclosing to an adult indicate that the strongest factors predicting disclosure to an adult are younger age, female gender, no previous experiences of child physical abuse, and parents knowing who their child spends her or his spare time with. Implications for further research and practice are discussed.

A prospective study of child maltreatment and self-injurious behavior in a community sample

2008 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 651-671 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tuppett M. Yates ◽  
Elizabeth A. Carlson ◽  
Byron Egeland
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Child Sexual Abuse ◽  
Child Maltreatment ◽  
Physical Abuse ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Partner Violence ◽  
Life Stress ◽  
Community Sample ◽  
Child Physical Abuse ◽  
Physical Neglect

AbstractIn conjunction with prospective ratings of child maltreatment (i.e., sexual abuse, physical abuse, and physical neglect) and measures of dissociation and somatization, this study examined prospective pathways between child maltreatment and nonsuicidal, direct self-injurious behavior (SIB; e.g., cutting, burning, self-hitting). Ongoing participants in the Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (N= 164; 83 males, 81 females) completed a semistructured interview about SIB when they were 26 years old. SIB emerged as a heterogeneous and prominent phenomenon in this low-income, mixed-gender, community sample. Child sexual abuse predictedrecurrentinjuring (i.e., three or more events;n= 13), whereas child physical abuse appeared more salient forintermittentinjuring (i.e., one to two events;n= 13). Moreover, these relations appeared largely independent of risk factors that have been associated with child maltreatment and/or SIB, including child cognitive ability, socioeconomic status, maternal life stress, familial disruption, and childhood exposure to partner violence. Dissociation and somatization were related to SIB and, to a lesser degree, child maltreatment. However, only dissociation emerged as a significant mediator of the observed relation between child sexual abuse and recurrent SIB. The findings are discussed within a developmental psychopathology framework in which SIB is viewed as a compensatory regulatory strategy in posttraumatic adaptation.

I sintomi traumatici mediano la relazione fra maltrattamento fisico infantile e il rischio in etŕ adulta di maltrattamento?

2011 ◽  
pp. 11-45
Author(s):  
Joel Milner ◽  
Cynthia Thomsen ◽  
Julie Crouch ◽  
Mandy Rabenhorst ◽  
Patricia Martens ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Intimate Partner Violence ◽  
Child Sexual Abuse ◽  
Physical Abuse ◽  
Partner Violence ◽  
Intimate Partner ◽  
Child Physical Abuse ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Us Navy ◽  
Ipv Intimate Partner Violence

: anche se la trasmissione intergenerazionale della violenza familiare č stata ben documentata, il meccanismo responsabile di questo effetto non č stato ancora completamente accertato. Il presente studio valuta se i sintomi traumatici mediano la relazione fra una storia di maltrattamento fisico infantile (CPA, Child Physical Abuse) e il rischio in etŕ adulta di perpetrare il maltrattamento fisico (rischio di CPA in etŕ adulta), e se tale mediazione sia uguale per le donne e per gli uomini.: reclute femminili e maschili della Marina Statunitense (USN, US Navy) (N = 5.394) e studenti universitari (N = 716) hanno completato un questionario self-report riguardante la loro storia di maltrattamento infantile (nello specifico, maltrattamento fisico infantile e abuso sessuale infantile [CSA, Child Sexual Abuse]), l'esposizione alla violenza intima tra i partner (IPV, Intimate Partner Violence), attuali sintomi traumatici, e il rischio in etŕ adulta di perpetrare il maltrattamento fisico infantile.: come atteso, č stata riscontrata una forte associazione fra una storia di maltrattamento fisico infantile e il rischio di CPA in etŕ adulta. Questa associazione č risultata significativa anche dopo aver controllato le variabili demografiche e l'esposizione infantile ad altre forme di violenza (CSA e IPV), e la forza della relazione non č risultata variare in base alle variabili demografiche o all'esposizione ad altre forme di violenza. Tuttavia, l'associazione fra una storia di CPA e il rischio di CPA in etŕ adulta č risultata piů forte fra i soggetti con alti punteggi di evitamento difensivo rispetto ai soggetti con bassi punteggi. L'associazione fra una storia di CPA e il rischio di CPA in etŕ adulta č risultata largamente, ma non interamente, mediata dai sintomi psicologici traumatici. La mediazione č stata osservata per gli uomini e per le donne sia del campione della Marina Statunitense sia degli studenti universitari.: i sintomi traumatici associati ad una storia di CPA rendono conto di una sostanziale parte della relazione fra una storia di CPA e il rischio in etŕ adulta di perpetrare il maltrattamento fisico infantile sia negli uomini sia nelle donne.: nella misura in cui i sintomi traumatici sono un meccanismo a partire dal quale si verifica la trasmissione intergenerazionale dell'abuso infantile, intervenire per ridurre i sintomi traumatici nelle vittime di CPA ha il potenziale di ridurre il rischio di perpetuare il ciclo della violenza.

Child Sexual Abuse

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Geetha
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Child Sexual Abuse ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Prevalence Rates ◽  
Statutory Rape ◽  
Global Prevalence ◽  
Number Of Children ◽  
Predicting Factors ◽  
Geographical Regions ◽  
Older Adolescents

Sexual abuse also referred to as molestation. The term is also covering any behaviour by on adult or older adolescents towards a referred to as child sexual abuse or statutory rape. In the global, India is the largest number of children 375 million, covering forty percentage of its population, out of which sixty-nine percentage of Indian girls are victims of physical, emotional and sexual abuse. Apart from that 70% of cases are unreported or unshared even with family members Global Prevalence of Sexual Abuse. Child Sexual Abuse rate among the girls are consistently higher than in boys. Prevalence rates of Child sexual abuse range from 8% to 31% for females and 3% to 17% for males. Prevalence rates may be attributed to different operational definitions of Child Sexual Abuse, as well as differences in occurrence of Child Sexual Abuse among varied populations across geographical regions. Prevalence rates also affected gender predicting factors.

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