Use of nonanatomical dolls in the sexual abuse interview

Controversy exists regarding use of anatomically detailed dolls in child sexual abuse evaluations because of concerns that such dolls may provoke false positive demonstrations of sexually explicit behavior. This study shows that children referred for medical evaluation of sexual abuse will use sexually explicit behavior to demonstrate what has happened to them with nonanatomical dolls as frequently as when they are interviewed with anatomically detailed ones. Over a two-year period, 136 children (aged 24 months to 10 years) were interviewed by the same pediatric interviewer. During the first year sexually anatomically detailed dolls (SAD) were used, and in the subsequent year nonanatomic dolls (NAD) were used. Data was analyzed according to age, sex, and demonstration of sexually explicit behavior. There were 67 children in the NAD group and 69 in the SAD group. Of the NAD group, 72% showed sexually explicit behavior compared to 68% in the SAD group. Comparisons using chi-square analysis revealed no significant differences between NAD and SAD. Results indicated that in the sexual abuse interview setting, use of sexually detailed dolls did not increase children's use of sexually explicit behavior to describe what had happened to them when compared to use of nonanatomical dolls, and that use of either type of doll provides similar information in the interview setting.