NCJ Number
165188
Journal
Journal of Family Violence Volume: 12 Issue: 1 Dated: (March 1997) Pages: 49-62
Date Published
1997
Length
14 pages
Annotation
Since suspected perpetrators of child abuse may attempt to influence the professional's recognition and reporting of child abuse by providing an account that justifies their behavior or the child's injury, a factorial survey design was employed in which a random sample of 1,038 Ohio nurses judged vignettes that systematically varied child abuse accounts and selected case characteristics.
Abstract
The vignettes were constructed by combining dimensions of seven case characteristic variables: type of act, level of seriousness, perpetrator status, victim age, victim sex, perpetrator account of the act, and perpetrator psychology. In comparison to other characteristics of the particular case, perpetrator accounts had little impact on the recognition and reporting of child abuse by nurses, with only two types of accounts influencing the responses of nurses. From the perspective of the suspected perpetrator, these accounts backfired, resulting in greater recognition and reporting of abuse. Interaction terms constructed of accounts and situational variables had little impact on the judgments of nurses when sexual abuse was involved but resulted in both higher and lower recognition and reporting scores when physical and emotional acts were judged. An appendix describes type and level of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. 35 references and 3 tables