Citation

Howe AC, Herzberger S, Tennen H. J. Fam. Violence 1988; 3(2): 105-119.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology, University of Connecticut, 06268 Storrs, Connecticut; Department of Psychology, Trinity College, 06106 Hartford, Connecticut; Department of Psychiatry, University of Connecticut Health Center, 06032 Farmington, Connecticut

Copyright

(Copyright © 1988, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/BF00994028

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Two extra-legal factors were examined for their influence on professionals'' decisions to report child abuse: having been abused as a child oneself, and the gender of the child, the parent, and the professional. One hundred and one men and women who worked regularly with children in mental health settings rated a series of scenarios presented as cases from a protective service agency. Participants made several judgments regarding the case including the severity of the parent''s behavior, the likely effect on the child, whether the situation was abusive, and whether the case should be reported to a social service agency. Despite some interpretive limitations, the results generally support the hypothesis that extra-legal factors influence the perceptions of professionals who are mandated to report a suspected incident of abuse.