PMID: 9422831Jan 10, 1998Paper

Children's religious knowledge: implications for understanding satanic ritual abuse allegations

Child Abuse & Neglect
G S GoodmanC Shapiro

Abstract

The goals of the present study were to examine the extent of children's religious, especially satanic, knowledge and to understand the influence of children's age, religious training, family, and media exposure on that knowledge. Using a structured interview, 48 3- to 16-year-old children were questioned about their knowledge of: (a) religion and religious worship; (b) religion-related symbols and pictures; and (c) movies, music, and television shows with religious and horror themes. Although few children evinced direct knowledge of ritual abuse, many revealed general knowledge of satanism and satanic worship. With age, children's religious knowledge increased and became more sophisticated. Increased exposure to nonsatanic horror media was associated with more nonreligious knowledge that could be considered precursory to satanic knowledge, and increased exposure to satanic media was associated with more knowledge related to satanism. Our results suggest that children do not generally possess sufficient knowledge of satanic ritual abuse to make up false allegations on their own. However, many children have knowledge of satanism as well as nonreligious knowledge of violence, death, and illegal activities. It is possible that such...Continue Reading

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Citations

Sep 23, 1997·Child Abuse & Neglect·B L BottomsS L Davis
Jan 10, 1998·Child Abuse & Neglect·D P Jones
Apr 7, 2011·Child Development·Victoria Cox Vaden, Jacqueline D Woolley
Mar 25, 2008·Family & Community Health·Gary B Melton, David Anderson
Nov 6, 2018·International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health·Johanna SchröderPeer Briken
Oct 3, 2016·Psychiatry, Psychology, and Law : an Interdisciplinary Journal of the Australian and New Zealand Association of Psychiatry, Psychology and Law·Henry OtgaarPatricia van Reekum

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