Disclosing sexual abuse: the impact of developmental variables

Despite increasing evidence that even a young child can be a competent witness in a court of law, there is one factor that is often used to impeach the credibility of a child in a sexual abuse case, and that is the nature and timing of the child's disclosure of the sexual victimization. This paper examines the impact of developmental variables on that disclosure and suggests that when those variables are recognized, the credibility of the young child as a witness increases.