Determinants of child-abuse reporting among Wisconsin school psychologists.

Abstract

132 Wisconsin school psychologists responded to a questionnaire that included background information items and 1 scenario depicting an incident of legally reportable child abuse. Ss indicated whether they would report the abuse and rated the importance of 10 different reasons for reporting or not reporting. The content of the scenarios varied along 3 dimensions: (1) type of abuse, (2) when the abuse occurred, and (3) whether the child asked the psychologist not to disclose the information. Results indicate that conditions surrounding the child abuse, in particular the nature or type of abuse and time of occurrence, were related to reporting. School psychologists were more likely to report physical or sexual abuse than neglect or emotional abuse; they were also more likely to report abuse occurring in the present than in the past. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)