Results showed that most of the children interviewed displayed neutral affect when they discussed abuse incidents, and most of them did not cry. Nevertheless, maltreated children who had a greater number of prior abuse allegations appeared less upset when discussing the abuse. It could be argued that abuse had become a regular part of these children's lives and therefore they had developed a stunted emotional reaction to the violence. Another possibility is that these children simply had more previous interviews, and talking about the abuse was less upsetting for them. For the sexually abused group, dissociation predicted children's negative affect. Specifically, sexually abused children who had more dissociative characteristics were more upset when discussing abuse. Data were collected from 124 children, ranging from 3- to 16-years-old who disclosed some form of abuse or neglect during a forensic interview conducted at an abuse-evaluation center. The sample was largely African-American, female, and allegedly physically abused, sexually abused, and/or neglected. Tables and references