Volu m e II - Purdue University Calumet

eporting strategies of childhood sexual abuse, on a scale of 1 (being the most ineffective) through 7 (being
the most effective). The averaged ratings served as the base scale for rating the effectiveness of the
responses of the child interviews.
Results and Discussion
The report of responses of the children in the interview is potent when considering the factor of age
and in comparison to the results of the parent 1991 study (Literature Review: Burkhardt, 1991).
The researcher’s original hypothesis was that the younger children would be considerably less
effective in their responses to the interview questions with respect to the older children. It was predicted
the responses of the older children would be more reflective of deeper understanding of the nature and
implications of the scenario. This hypothesis holds true for Young Child #1 and 2 and Older Child #2, yet
generally deviates for Young Child #3 and Older Child #1.
Young Child #1, a four-year old male, seems, at first, to have some sort of sense of the problem:
his response to the first question,” Tell me what you think is the problem in this story,” is “There is a man.” While
this response is not complete in describing the threat, it should be applauded that this young boy seems to
recognize that the man is the focus of the problem in the story—not the man’s dog.
The child’s response to the second interview question, “What should Tommy do?” yields “Run away in
the car. Because there is a man and he doesn’t wanna get in the car.” The child’s response is a bit
ambiguous—it is not quite clear if he believes this “car” (which was not mentioned in the original vignette)
belongs to Tommy’s family or to the stranger. It is probable that the reason the child brings a car into his
response is due to previous lectures he has gotten from his parent(s) about “stranger danger,” and strangers
strolling up to children in their cars.
The child participant, by responding “and he doesn’t want to get in the car,” perhaps means to say
that Tommy does not want to get into the car with the man—however, his answer is, again, vague. Later
on, another question results in the child participant giving a response involving the “man’s car,” so more
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