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Article
24. Interviewing children versus tossing coins: Accurately assessing the diagnosticity of children’s disclosures of abuse.
Journal of Child Sexual Abuse (Published 2012) (2011)
  • Thomas D. Lyon, University of Southern California
  • Elizabeth C. Ahern, University of Southern California
  • Nicholas Scurich, University of Southern California
Abstract
We describe a Bayesian approach to evaluating children’s abuse disclosures and review research demonstrating that children’s disclosure of genital touch can be highly probative of sexual abuse, with the probative value depending on disclosure spontaneity and children’s age. We discuss how some commentators understate the probative value of children’s disclosures by: confusing the probability of abuse given disclosure with the probability of disclosure given abuse, assuming that children formally questioned about sexual abuse have a low prior probability of sexual abuse, misstating the probative value of abuse disclosure, and confusing the distinction between disclosure and nondisclosure with the dstinction between true and false disclosures. We review interviewing methods that increase the probative value of disclosures, including interview instructions, narrative practice, noncontingent reinforcement, and questions about perpetrator/caregiver statements and children’s reactions to the alleged abuse.
Keywords
  • child witnesses,
  • child abuse,
  • child neglect,
  • child development,
  • child psychology
Publication Date
August, 2011
DOI
10.1080/10538712.2012.642468
Citation Information
Lyon, T. D., Ahern, E. C., & Scurich, N. (2012). Interviewing children versus tossing coins: Accurately assessing the diagnosticity of children’s disclosures of abuse. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 21, 19-44.