Peer-reviewed article
Perceptual discrepancies in the experience and reporting of violence against children are more pronounced among social workers compared to laypeople
Mats Dahl, Leonard Suppatt Ngaosuvan, Jessika Granberg Flintberg, Johanna Silfversparre, Lotta Stille et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined how parents, social workers, and laypeople perceive and rate the severity of psychological and physical violence against children. Parents who had witnessed violence described incidents and rated their severity, while social workers and laypeople independently rated the same narratives. The findings show that both social workers and laypeople tend to overestimate physical violence severity, but surprisingly, social workers also overestimated psychological violence more than laypeople did, contrary to expectations that professional experience would reduce such biases.
Key points
- Laypeople overestimated the severity of physical violence but did not significantly underestimate psychological violence
- Social workers overestimated the severity of psychological violence more than the control group, showing larger perceptual discrepancies than expected
- Both social workers and laypeople overestimated physical violence severity with no significant difference between groups
- Professional experience did not reduce perceptual biases in assessing violence severity and may in some cases amplify them
- The study suggests that desensitization, cognitive biases, and cultural factors may influence professionals' evaluations of violence against children
Limitations
The study relied on written narratives rather than direct observation of violence, which may not capture the full context or dynamics of actual incidents. The research does not explain the mechanisms behind why professional experience amplifies rather than reduces bias, and findings may be specific to the cultural and professional contexts of Sweden and Poland.
Abstract
When violence against a child is reported to authorities, it is crucial that its severity is communicated effectively and evaluated accurately by professionals. This study, conducted in two phases, investigated perceptual differences in calibration and accuracy regarding psychological and physical violence against children among parents, social workers, and laypeople. In Phase 1, parents who had witnessed violence against their children, committed by a current or former partner, provided first-person narratives describing these events and rated the severity of the violence. In Phase 2, social workers and a control group (laypeople) read these narratives and rated the severity of the violence. Previous research on intimate partner violence suggests that recipients often underestimate the severity of psychological violence and overestimate that of physical violence. We hypothesized that this pattern would also apply for the control group, whereas social workers, due to their professional experience, would show smaller discrepancies compared to the parents. The results partially supported our hypotheses. The control group overestimated the severity of physical violence but did not significantly underestimate that of psychological violence. Unexpectedly, social workers overestimated the severity of psychological violence, resulting in larger perceptual discrepancies than the control group, contrary to the hypothesis. They also overestimated the severity of physical violence, but their ratings did not differ significantly from the control group. These findings suggest that professional experience does not necessarily reduce perceptual biases in assessing violence severity and may, in some cases, amplify them. This study highlights the complexities professionals face in evaluating violence against children and the need for further research, particularly considering potential influences such as desensitization, cognitive biases, and cultural factors.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- Comparative evaluation of perceptual accuracy in rating severity of psychological and physical violence against children as described in parental narratives
- Population
- Parents who had witnessed violence against their children; social workers; laypeople as control group in Sweden and Poland
Key finding
Control group overestimated severity of physical violence but did not significantly underestimate psychological violence