Preschool children's erroneous allegations of sexual molestation

Occasionally, a preschool child may erroneously accuse a parent of molestation. When this occurs, the child usually believes that his or her story is correct. A false accusation can be made when an adult has persuaded a child that the sexual events actually occurred, when a child in the oedipal stage has misinterpreted caregiving ministrations, when a child's thought processes are confused by primary process material, or when a child is secondarily involved in the projective identifications of a dominant caregiver. More than one of these mechanisms may operate in a given case.