A comparison of the responses of preadolescents and adolescents in a national victimization survey.

Abstract

Abstract

This article compares the responses of 10- and 11-year-olds with those of 12-to 16-year-olds in a national telephone survey of 2,000 youth concerning victimization and victimization-prevention education. Although the overall participation rate was quite good for both groups, parents were slightly more likely to bar the younger children from taking part in the survey. The younger children also disclosed fewer of the most sensitive kinds of victimization, such as sexual abuse. However, by contrast, they did not give any more problematic responses to the key questions dealing with victimization and its details, and their rates for both family and nonfamily assaults, which comprised most of the victimizations, were equivalent to those of older children. The younger children also did not report any greater levels of distress in response to the survey. The few difficulties in interviewing the 10- and 11-year-old children and the quantity of valuable information they can provide suggest that they should be included in victimization surveys.

Department

Sociology

Publication Date

6-1998

Journal Title

Journal of Interpersonal Violence

Publisher

Sage Publications

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1177/088626098013003004

Document Type

Article

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