NCJ Number
138479
Journal
Social Problems Volume: 39 Issue: 2 Dated: (May 1992) Pages: 109-124
Date Published
1992
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This article describes and presents the results of a study that analyzed the transcripts of adult interviews with children to determine whether or not the children have been sexually abused.
Abstract
The data were obtained from eight interviews that questioned children about sexual abuse. These interviews, conducted between 1980 and 1989, ranged from 70 to 100 minutes in length. Court personnel transcribed the interviews so they could be used as trial evidence. The analysis focused on approximately 1,600 responses from children, with attention to a random sample of 173 responses. The children in the interviews were four boys and four girls who ranged in age from 5 to 10 years old. Three different women trained in diagnostic and therapeutic techniques for child sexual abuse conducted the sessions. Each individual session involved dialog between the child and one adult. The sequence of each session involved an initial free play period, the playing of a game that involved the naming of body parts, reacquainting the child with the names of potentially involved individuals, casting puppets and dolls as potentially involved persons, and talking about possible sexual contact between persons who played together. The analysis of the adult-child verbal interactions found that the adults elicited children's confirmations of sexual abuse by posing alternative responses, ratifying confirmative responses, censuring children's nonconfirming responses, producing versions of questions that include candidate responses, and by handling children's weak agreements as strong agreements. These actions help children assess the adequacy of their participation in investigative talk. Children, however, did not respond mechanically to alternative response questions, but rather altered or rejected proposed responses. Suggestions are offered for future research. 56 references