How Many Children Lie about Being Sexually Abused?: A Survey of Mental Health and Law Enforcement Professionals

• NCJ Number: 130744
• Author(s): K A Kendall-Tackett
• Date Published: 1991
• Length: 15 pages
• Grant Number(s): 89-IJ-CX0040; T32 MH15161
• Sponsoring Agency: American Psychological Assoc; National Institute of Justice (NIJ); National Institute of Mental Health; US Dept of Justice NIJ Pub
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Paper presented at the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children, January 1991, San Diego, CA

Annotation

A survey of 201 Boston mental health and law enforcement professionals was conducted to determine the percentage of children whom they had worked with who lied about being sexually abused.

Abstract

Through a standardized telephone interview the participants related the number of false allegations encountered to their total caseloads. Other variables examined were the age of the child, profession of the interviewer, expectation of the interviewer, and sex of the interviewer. The results indicated that women reported a smaller percentage of false allegations than did men, and that all professionals reported fewer false allegation for children under age 6 than they did for children ages 6-9 or 10-12. In addition, law enforcement and mental health professionals were differentially affected by children ages 10-12, and mental health professionals reported a significantly higher percentage of false reports than did law enforcement professionals. These results show that most professionals reported a small percentage of false allegations with their child clients and that the percentage of false reports was related to the sex of the interviewer, age of the child, and profession of the interviewer. 1 table, 1 figure, and 14 references (Author abstract modified)