Citation

Goodman-Delahunty J, Martschuk N, Cossins A. Psychol. Crime Law 2017; 23(4): 391-412.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/1068316X.2016.1258469

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

A validation study of the Child Sexual Abuse Knowledge Questionnaire (CSA-KQ) was conducted on a sample of 1712 non-empanelled jurors in the greater Sydney area, Australia. The CSA-KQ contains nine items derived from empirical findings on common misconceptions about typical features of abuse offences, children's responses to child sexual abuse, and their ability to give reliable evidence. Study 1 tested the factor structure of the questionnaire in a sample of 843 non-empanelled jurors. The best model indicated by exploratory factor analysis had two factors: the Impact of Sexual Abuse on Children and Contextual Influences on the Report. Study 2 cross-validated the findings and tested the predictive validity of the CSA-KQ in a realistic simulated trial in which an 11-year-old complainant alleged abuse by her grandfather. Confirmatory factor analysis replicated the findings of Study 1, showing strong reliability for each of the factors (ρy = 0.70 to ρy = 0.80) and for the CSA-KQ (ρy = 0.76). CSA-KQ scores were significantly correlated with the perceived credibility of the complainant (r = 0.23). Moreover, the CSA-KQ scores predicted verdict: jurors with greater knowledge about CSA were more likely to convict the defendant than jurors who knew less about CSA.

Language: en

Keywords

Child sexual abuse; confirmatory factor analysis; exploratory factor analysis; juror knowledge; validation study