Professionals' Standards of "Normal" Behavior With Anatomical Dolls and Factors That Influence These Standards

• NCJ Number: 130733
• Author(s): K A Kendall-Tackett
• Date Published: Unknown
• Length: 14 pages
• Grant Number(s): 89-IJ-CX-0040; T32 MH15161
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute of Justice (NIJ); National Institute of Mental Health; US Dept of Justice NIJ Pub
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Seattle, Washington, April 18, 1991.

Annotation

Over 200 professionals who work with child sexual abuse victims were asked to rate, as normal or abnormal, various behaviors exhibited by nonabused children between the ages of two and six toward anatomically correct dolls.

Abstract

Almost all subjects agreed that overtly sexual behaviors were abnormal for nonabused children. However, more ambiguous behaviors, such as touching the doll's genitals, were rated differently by the participants. Law enforcement professionals, women, and those with less years of experience were more likely to define these behaviors as abnormal. The findings suggest that professional training in the use of anatomically correct dolls needs to concentrate more on the interpretation of behaviors in addition to instruction on presenting the dolls in an unbiased manner. Furthermore, a comprehensive standard of normal behavior should be established after appropriate research is conducted. 2 tables and 8 references (Author abstract modified)