SEXUALIZED DOLL PLAY AMONG YOUNG-CHILDREN - IMPLICATIONS FOR THE USE OF ANATOMICAL DOLLS IN SEXUAL ABUSE EVALUATIONS

The use of anatomical dolls in sexual abuse evaluations remains controversial because of concerns that the dolls induce normal, nonabused children to act out in sexual ways that are likely to be misinterpreted as evidence of sexual abuse. This study examines the incidence of explicit sexual doll play in a large, demographically diverse sample of 2− to 5-year-olds. The 6% incidence of demonstrations of apparent sexual intercourse found in this sample compared favorably with the rate of <2% across prior studies of anatomical doll play among presumably nonabused children. However, higher rates of explicit sexual play were associated with being older, poor, black, and somewhat with being male, with over 20% of some subgroups of children displaying such behavior. These results are interpreted as evidence that anatomical dolls are not overly suggestive to young, sexually naive children, but are useful in assessing sexual knowledge and exposure to sexual intercourse. J. Am. Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry, 1990, 29, 5:736–742. © 1990, The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. All rights reserved.