How Consistency and Alleged Perpetrator Relationship Affect Adults' Credibility and Coaching Judgements in Child Sexual Abuse Cases.
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| Title: | How Consistency and Alleged Perpetrator Relationship Affect Adults' Credibility and Coaching Judgements in Child Sexual Abuse Cases. |
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| Authors: | Carr, Shaelyn M. A.1 (AUTHOR) carr203s@uregina.ca, Wark, Amy1 (AUTHOR), Bruer, Kaila C.2 (AUTHOR) |
| Source: | Journal of Child Sexual Abuse. Apr2026, Vol. 35 Issue 3, p338-352. 15p. |
| Subject Terms: | *Child sexual abuse laws, *Fear, *Denial (Psychology), *Decision making, *Memory, *Interpersonal relations, *Disclosure, *Adults, Child sexual abuse & psychology, Statistical power analysis, Sex offenders, Research funding, Factorial experiment designs, Two-way analysis of variance, Questionnaires, Social perception, Descriptive statistics, Forensic psychology, Crime victims, Deception, Judgment (Psychology), Confidence intervals, Data analysis software |
| Geographic Terms: | Canada |
| Abstract: | Child sexual abuse (CSA) victims often withhold disclosure due to coaching by the alleged perpetrator to deny the abuse. Adults, however, are generally poor at detecting coached lies in children, potentially because such reports are highly consistent. However, little is known about how the victim-alleged perpetrator relationship influences adults' perceptions of credibility and coaching in CSA cases. In this study, jury-eligible participants (N = 183) read one of six CSA mock-forensic interview transcripts involving a 12-year-old boy giving testimony containing evidence of CSA coaching. The transcripts varied in the consistency of the child's testimony (i.e. consistent or inconsistent) and the child's relationship to the alleged perpetrator (i.e. stepdad, peer, stranger). Results showed that consistent testimony led to higher credibility ratings, whereas inconsistent testimony increased perceptions that the child was coached. The victim-alleged perpetrator relationship did not significantly affect perceptions of credibility of coaching. Overall, these findings indicate that consistency is a powerful cue shaping adults' evaluations of CSA testimony. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
| Copyright of Journal of Child Sexual Abuse is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) | |
| Database: | Education Research Complete |
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