NCJ Number
246691
Journal
Child Abuse & Neglect Volume: 38 Issue: 2 Dated: February 2014 Pages: 217-223
Date Published
February 2014
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This study assessed whether in the course of standard epidemiological surveys, youth are upset about being questioned on various types of abuse, victimization, family maltreatment, and sexual victimization.
Abstract
The study findings indicate that asking youth questions about childhood victimizations, even when involving sexual abuse or delinquent behaviors, is not likely to provoke seriously distressed reactions or a decision not to participate in subsequent surveys of this type. Some youth victimized as children who were still feeling the traumatic effects of their victimization were more likely to feel upset by questions related to their victimization; however, out of a national sample of youth ages 10-17, only 0.3 percent of the total sample said they would not have participated in the survey had they known the content and would not do so again. Only 4.5 percent reported being at all upset. The respondents in this study participated in the youth interview portion of the National Survey of Children's Exposure to Violence II, which was designed to obtain up-to-date estimates on the incidence and prevalence of a wide range of childhood victimizations. The survey used an enhanced version of the Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire, an inventory of 54 childhood victimizations. In addition, there were 15 questions about whether youth had engaged in specific delinquent behaviors. At the end of the survey, respondents were asked whether the questions had distressed them or otherwise stimulated disturbing reactions that would affect their participation in future surveys of this type. The authors note, however, that the findings do not provide strong clues regarding ways to minimize distress in similar future research. 2 tables and 16 references