| Child abuse is a prevalent social problem and mandated reporting is a primary method for preventing and decreasing the incidence of child abuse. Schools are the most frequent source of substantiated child abuse reports and, accordingly, teachers have been a focus of research on reporting behavior and knowledge. School psychologists, however, have not been the focus of research on mandated reporter knowledge and behavior. For the present study New York State school psychologists' reporting behavior and knowledge were investigated through an online questionnaire. Practicing school psychologists ( n = 274) provided demographic information about their professional practice and employment. Participants responded to scenarios from the Crenshaw Abuse Reporting Survey -- Form S (CARS-S) requiring them to recognize reportable child abuse. Participants also answered 11 factual questions regarding the reporting mandate in New York State. Statistically insignificant results were found between knowledge of the mandate to report abuse and degree level, reporting experience, school age population served, additional training hours, school district location, and school district socioeconomic status (SES). A significant correlation was found between a school psychologists' accuracy in deciding to report a scenario depicting abuse and a school psychologists' overall knowledge of the mandate to report abuse. School psychologists in low socioeconomic (SES) districts reported significantly more cases of suspected abuse than did those in middle-high SES districts. Limitations of the present study included instrument reliability and sample homogeneity. Suggestions for future research were offered. |
