Support Person Use and Child Witness Stress, Accuracy, and Perceived Credibility

California State University Northridge, Northridge CA

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Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Thousands of children are victimized by abuse and neglect every year. These acts result in child fatalities and detrimentally affect children's physical and mental well-being. Investigations often are initiated to prevent these negative outcomes and increasing numbers of children have become actively involved in the legal process as a result. Because legal involvement can be stressful for anyone, particularly for child victims, various evidentiary and procedural innovations have been introduced to facilitate children's participation in maltreatment proceedings. Research indicates that support person use is extremely common in cases involving children, yet virtually no empirical research on this innovation exists. Drawing on the results of a national survey (McAuliff et al., 2009b), the proposed research will use an experimental paradigm to test the assumption by legal professionals that support person use benefits children. The research also will examine the impact of commonly used types of support and children's individual characteristics on their reactions to and others'perceptions of support person use. Two groups of multi-ethnic children (5-7 and 10-12 years-old) will interact with a research assistant posing as a medical student and participate in a simulated medical screening exam. After a short delay, children will be surprised with an interview by research assistants posing as the medical student's supervisors. Children will be randomly assigned to experimental conditions in which presence of support, source of support (mother vs. female research assistant), and nature of support (emotional vs. informational) are varied to determine the effects of those variables on children's stress and interview accuracy. Research assistants posing as the medical student's supervisors will rate children's perceived credibility. It is hypothesized that supported children will be less stressed, more accurate, and perceived as less credible than nonsupported children. Children are expected to be less stressed and more accurate, but perceived as less credible, when they receive mother-provided or informational support versus research assistant-provided or emotional support. Older children may benefit more from support person use than younger children. Implications for law enforcement and legal professionals who work with children will be discussed. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The proposed research is directly relevant to the mental and physical well-being of children interviewed by law enforcement and legal personnel. If support person use is shown to reduce children's stress and increase accuracy without compromising their perceived credibility, we can provide empirical support for the use of support persons with children in law enforcement and legal settings. Ideally, this will make children more effective witnesses when reporting crimes committed against them. More effective witnesses should in turn increase conviction rates and decrease levels of reoffending, thus reducing child maltreatment and its negative consequences.