Abstract
Over the last two decades, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of reports retrospectively linking childhood abuse to a variety of short- and long-term effects. Typically, adolescents or adults are asked about a history of abuse in an interview or on a questionnaire designed to elicit this information retrospectively. However, considerable controversy exists about the validity of information obtained from retrospective self-reports (Berliner & Williams, 1994; Briere & Conte, 1993; Della Femina, Yeager, & Lewis, 1990; Herman & Schatzow, 1987; Kruttschnitt & Dornfeld, 1992; Lindsay & Read, 1994; Loftus, 1993; Widom, 1989c; Williams, 1994). Although many researchers argue that estimates based on adult retrospective reports are probably underestimates (Finkelhor, 1993), others have argued that retrospective reports may contain many false positives (Nash, 1992).
Keywords
- Sexual Abuse
- Childhood Abuse
- Childhood Sexual Abuse
- Physical Abuse
- Childhood Physical Abuse
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Widom, C.S., Courtois, C.A. (1997). Accuracy of Adult Recollections of Early Childhood Abuse. In: Read, J.D., Lindsay, D.S. (eds) Recollections of Trauma. NATO ASI Series, vol 291. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-2672-5_3
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