PARENTS AND OTHER RELATIVES ACCUSED OF SEXUAL ABUSE ON THE BASIS OF RECOVERED MEMORIES - A NEW-ZEALAND FAMILY SURVEY

Aim. To survey New Zealand families where an alleged perpetrator and/o r other family member denies an accusation involving the childhood mol estation of one family member by another, based on a memory recovered in adulthood. As the validity of such memories is crucial, our aim was to develop a profile of such families and to compare it with New Zeal and epidemiological data. Method. Information was collected by questio nnaire regarding family demographics, characteristics of the accuser, family life, events surrounding and leading up to the accusations, con sequences of the accusations and details of the accuser's current life situation. The 73 subjects included fathers, mothers, siblings and ot her relatives of the accusing adults. Results. Most accusers were high ly educated white women, frequently first born or older children from relatively large families, statistically different proportions from th ose expected. Many accusations involved events of low base-rate probab ility including satanic ritual abuse. Proportions differed from those of another New Zealand prevalence survey of 1019 18-year-olds(1) in al most every way. Conclusion. The data suggest that it is unlikely that many, if not most, of the memories of child sexual abuse recovered in adulthood are a true reflection of history. Memories recovered during therapy should be treated with respect as part of the patient's narrat ive truth, but not assumed to be factually accurate without corroborat ive evidence.