The veridicality of punitive childhood experiences reported by adolescentsand young adults

Objective: The primary goal of the present research was to determine whethe r retrospective reports of childhood disciplinary experiences and perceptio ns of that discipline correspond to actual childhood events and whether the accuracy of that report was influenced by the affective state of the respo ndent. Method: Eighty-three adolescent and young adult males completed a retrospec tive measure of physical child maltreatment, Assessing Environments (AEIII) , and the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI). As children the participants had b een observed naturalistically in their homes interacting with their parents an average of 10 years earlier. Results: Analyses were consistent with the hypothesis that both current moo d and actual observations of parent-child interactions during childhood pre dict self-reported recollections of childhood maltreatment by one's parents . Further the veridicality of such recollections appears to depend upon the objective specificity versus the perceptive nature of the questions used t o elicit the recollections. Conclusions: The findings suggest that assessment instruments suitable for obtaining information regarding earlier childhood victimization must utiliz e behaviorally specific items. Thus, items that are either global or intima te a normative comparison should be avoided. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd.