INFLUENCE OF INFORMATION RELATED TO CHILD PHYSICAL ABUSE ON PROFESSIONAL RATINGS OF ADJUSTMENT AND PROGNOSIS

The study investigates the influence of access to information of a his tory of physical maltreatment on the evaluative responding of social s ervice and clinical psychology professionals. Written vignettes were u sed in a 2 x 2 x 2 factorial design to manipulate the: (a) presence/ab sence of abuse history; (b) presence/absence of behavior problems; and (c) gender of the child. Professionals rated children presented in 12 case vignettes along five treatment-related dimensions: (a) overall a djustment; (b) predicted 6 month temporal stability of behavior; (c) l ikelihood of treatment referral; (d) expected home intervention succes s; and (e) expected school intervention success. Four dimensions relat ed to social functioning were also rated, including likelihood of the child being: (a) recommended to serve as assistant to teacher; (b) ele cted as a school activity team leader; (c) elected as a class officer; and (d) nominated as a candidate for successful completion of a summe r camp program. The findings verified the influence of information rel ated to a history of maltreatment on professional judgments, despite m atched vignette content for all factors other than maltreatment status . The results suggests a possible failure to recognize that some child ren have been buffered from the negative effects of abuse and point to the risk of erroneous judgments that may be directed toward maltreate d children. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.