Term of Award
Spring 2020
Degree Name
Doctor of Psychology in Clinical Psychology (Psy.D.)
Document Type and Release Option
Dissertation (open access)
Copyright Statement / License for Reuse
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Department
Department of Psychology
Committee Chair
Dr. Dorthie Cross-Mokdad
Committee Member 1
Dr. Thresa Yancey
Committee Member 2
Dr. Rebecca Ryan
Abstract
Understanding factors that could influence attitudes and beliefs regarding child sexual abuse may inform efforts to educate clinicians, legal and medical personnel, and even the public on potential sources of bias and barriers to treatment and other service utilization, particularly in rural communities. The purpose of the current study was to experimentally investigate the impact of child accuser age and gender and participant rural status on ratings of perceived credibility of child sexual abuse allegations described in vignettes. With this study, I aimed to not only clarify and update previous findings on accuser age and gender, but also to expand the literature by examining interactions of the two, as well as examine the potential relevance of rural status to perceived credibility of child sexual abuse victims. Three hundred twenty-seven participants were recruited via Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk) and were randomly assigned to read and evaluate one of six versions of a vignette that varied only in terms of child accuser age (6, 11, and 15 years old) and gender (boy, girl). The study did not find a significant effect of child accuser age on ratings of perceived credibility, but child accuser gender was found to be significant in that boys were rated as less credible than girls. Participant rural status was not significant. Moreover, no significant interactions were found. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings, as well as study limitations, are discussed.
OCLC Number
1112365413
Catalog Permalink
https://galileo-georgiasouthern.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01GALI_GASOUTH/1fi10pa/alma9916235387602950
Recommended Citation
Lashbaugh-Barney, Bridget, "Perceived Credibility of Child Sexual Abuse Reporting" (2020). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1965.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/1965
Research Data and Supplementary Material
No
Included in
Child Psychology Commons, Clinical Psychology Commons, Community Psychology Commons, Counseling Psychology Commons, Developmental Psychology Commons, Multicultural Psychology Commons, Other Psychology Commons
