Interviewing young sexual abuse victims with anatomically correct dolls.

Two groups of children were interviewed with a structured format to elicit their responses to sexually anatomically correct dolls. Significant differences were found between the responses of children who had not been referred for suspected sexual abuse and those who had. Nonreferred children (n = 25) revealed very few behaviors indicative of abuse whereas referred children (n = 25) demonstrated significantly more sexually related behaviors when presented with the dolls. Of the age groups studied (2-6 years), 3 year olds were the most responsive to the dolls, while older children tended either to reveal their experiences or to become very nonresponsive. The authors argue for the use of structured interview techniques with use of the anatomical dolls and the collection of normative comparison data relative to the evaluation of suspected sexual abuse.