The influence of personal history of abuse and gender on clinicians' judgments of child abuse

The influence of extralegal factors on professional's decisions to report child abuse -- having been abused as a child oneself, & the gender of the child, the parent, & the professional -- was examined in a questionnaire survey of a group of psychologists & social workers (N = 101) who worked regularly with children in mental health settings. Rs rated a series of scenarios presented as cases from a protective service agency, & made several judgments regarding the case, including the severity of the parent's behavior, the likely effect on the child, whether the situation was abusive, & whether the case should be reported to a social service agency. Results generally support the hypothesis that extralegal factors influence the perceptions of professional mental health care workers. 6 Tables, 29 References. Modified HA