Effects Of Domestic Violence And Evaluation Of Children'

Child Health And Human Development

Investigators

Linked publications, trials & patents

Abstract

This program involves the development and assessment of techniques for enhancing the informativeness of child witnesses and for evaluating the credibility of their accounts. Most of our studies focus on the relationship between interviewer practices and the quality of information provided by young children, confirming that open-ended questions elicit longer and more detailed responses than more focused questions. Information elicited in response to open-ended prompts of recall memory is also more likely to be accurate in both analog and forensic contexts. Such findings have strengthened the generalizability of the results obtained in many laboratory studies.[unreadable] [unreadable] In research conducted in collaboration with investigative agencies in the US, UK, and Israel, we have shown that, regardless of children's ages, interviewers can increase the length and richness of children's (even as young as 4-year of age) accounts by following NICHD Investigative Protocol, designed to probe free-recall memory and reduce the reliance on more focused questions, which are more likely to elicit erroneous information. Our research shows that similar proportion of details can be elicited by using self disclosed content as open-ended contextual cues from 4-13 years old children and that action-based cues are consistently more effective than all other types of cues, regardless of age. There are, however, important age differences in the types of information that children provide. A study under review shows increases with age in the amount and quality of temporal references children provide about alleged experienced events. This research has provided unique insight into children's developing appreciation of temporal information about experienced events. A study exploring references to temporal attributes made by alleged victims and interviewers in the context of court interviews is currently conducted in collaboration with Friedman and Lyon. Data is being analyzed. [unreadable] [unreadable] Studies using adaptations of the NICHD Investigative Interview Protocol for young witnesses and alleged perpetrators, have shown that young witnesses recall as much information in total, as well as in response to open-ended prompts, as do alleged victims. Suspects tend to be more reluctant, but those who agree to talk provide as much information about their experiences as age mates who are alleged victims and were very responsive to free-recall prompts, although interviewers used more risky focused prompts when interviewing suspects. In a comparison of victims' and suspects' accounts of the same alleged incidents, we demonstrated that more free-recall victims' information was confirmed by suspects than information in response to focused prompts. publication is under review. [unreadable] [unreadable] Effects of different types of interviewers? suggestive prompts, in terms of the inclusion of undisclosed inputs, and of repeated interviews on children?s responses have been explored in two other studies. The study involves a systematic assessment of children?s responses to different types of interviewers? suggestive prompts in the course of non-protocol forensic interviews, exploring the effects of age and prompt type on such responses. Analyses have been completed; reporting is in process. The other study investigates the advantages and disadvantages of repeatedly interviewing 5- and 6-year-old children about past experiences. We found that children recalled new (previously undisclosed) information in repeated interviews. The timing and context of the interviews was found to influence the accuracy of the new information howevver. When repeated interviews occurred soon after the event in question, when little forgetting had taken place, new information was highly accurate (92%). Under the same conditions, following a 6 month delay, new information was highly inaccurate (54%). Further investigation of recall after a 6-month delay showed that by using context reinstatement the accuracy of new information increased (72%), relative to when no context reinstatement was used. [unreadable] [unreadable] In other ongoing research, we are exploring the extent to which use of the protocol facilitates decisions and interventions designed to prosecute offenders and protect children. We also explored case characteristics and the dynamics of interviews with children who do and do not make allegations or make allegations only reluctantly. These studies, too, should help develop procedures that can be implemented nonsuggestively in forensic settings in order to enhance the sensitivity and specificity of conclusions drawn from investigative interviews. A book on disclosure, non-disclosure, and denial edited by SSED researchers, is now in press. In an analouge laboratory study we have explored whether human figure drawings help children to report touch. Children in the drawings conditions reported more incorrect information than those in the verbal questions condition. Errors were reduced when open-ended prompts were used to elicit elaborations of reported touches. Publication is under review. We explored witness' consistency in a case study of repeated interviews with a 9-year-old girl who witnessed the abduction of her sister from their shared bedroom, in which a series of 6 interviews led to the identification and apprehension of the perpetrator. [unreadable] [unreadable] We examined the accuracy of information elicited from 79 five- to seven-year-old children about a staged event that included physical contact/touching. Four to six weeks later children?s recall for the event was assessed using an interview protocol analogous to those used in forensic investigations with children. Children in the drawings conditions reported more incorrect information than those in the verbal questions condition.Errors are reduced when open-ended prompts are used to elicit elaborations of reported touches. Manuscript is under review. [unreadable] [unreadable] Child Maltreatment[unreadable] [unreadable] Another program of research is concerned with the effects of child and spouse abuse on the development of children and adolescents. Research has focused on clarifying the short and long-term effects of being a victim of parental physical abuse, a witnesses of inter-parental abuse, and an abused witness (victims and witnesses), in comparison to no-violence controls, as well as a mega-analytic study, combining the raw data from multiple studies that used the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) as an outcome measure have been published. Results confirmed that abused witnesses are at greater risk for problems than children who experience only one form of abuse or no abuse, and that children?s age moderate the effects. The effects of family violence, additional risk factors and supportive factors on behavior problems and depression were examined longitudinally at two developmental stages by assessing a sample of Israeli children in middle childhood (10.6 years old) and in adolescence (15.9 year old). Information about the children?s adjustment was obtained from the children and their parents using the Youth Self Report (YSR), the Childhood Depression Inventory (CDI), and The Child Behavior Check List (CBCL). Information about the history of family violence, other risk factors (7 at time 1 and 11 at time 2), and possible supportive factors (4 at time 1 and 5 at time 2) were obtained from the mothers, fathers, children, and their social workers by way of standardized questionnaires and interviews. A multiple risk factors index (MRI) and a multiple supportive factors index (MSI), as well as individual risk and supportive factors, significantly predicted children?s behavior and emotional problems over and above being a victim of physical abuse and being a witness of spousal physical abuse. There were significant differences between boys and girls.