Credibility of first versus second child sexual abuse allegations

dc.contributor.authorHenley, Anna Kathleen
dc.date.accessioned2020-06-23T16:56:58Z
dc.date.available2020-06-23T16:56:58Z
dc.date.issued2012
dc.description.abstractA child witness’s credibility has been defined along two dimensions, honesty and cognitive competence (Ross, Jurden, Lindsay, & Keeney, 2003). In cases where cognitive competence (e.g., memory strength) is more salient to an allegation, then older children are typically viewed as more believable than younger children, whereas in cases where honesty is more salient, then younger children are viewed as more believable than older children. The present research examined whether these perceptions of the child witness held true for repeated allegations of abuse and across types of repeated abuse reported. Two hundred seventy participants were recruited from undergraduate psychology courses. Participants read a scenario of a child sexual abuse allegation made by a 5-, 10-, or 15-year-old child w. Overall participants rated a child reporting a single allegation of abuse and a repeated allegation of a different type of abuse as significantly more believable and more likely to be accurately telling the truth than a child reporting a second allegation of the same type of abuse. Results also indicated that the 5- and 10-year-old children were rated significantly more believable than the 15- year-old child despite the frequency or type of abuse reported. (Author Abstract)en_US
dc.identifier.citationHenley, Anna Kathleen. (2012). Credibility of first versus second child sexual abuse allegations. MS thesis), University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://scholar.utc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1027&context=theses
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11212/4770
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.publisherUniversity of Tennessee at Chattanoogaen_US
dc.subjectchild abuseen_US
dc.subjectcredibilityen_US
dc.subjectresearchen_US
dc.subjectdisclosureen_US
dc.subjectageen_US
dc.subjectbelievabilityen_US
dc.titleCredibility of first versus second child sexual abuse allegationsen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US

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