Directly questioning children and adolescents about maltreatment - A review of survey measures used

The methodological, legal, and ethical issues related to questioning childr en about their maltreatment experiences in research studies are complex. A review of the literature was conducted examining what studies to date hare directly asked children about victimization and how study investigators dea lt with the human participants issues related to subsequent disclosure. Thi s article examines how different studies have defined and operationalized a buse in survey questions for children, reports prevalence rates when availa ble, describes the differing methods used to collect child self-report data , and highlights how investigators have dealt with the ethical issues relat ed to informed consent and disclosure up to this point.