Age differences in children's ability to recount a stressful event were explored, as were several ways to improve children's reports. Seventy 3- to 7 year olds were videotaped while receiving inoculations at a medical clinic. It was predicted that multiple interviews would maintain memory and strengthen resistance to sugges-tion. It was also predicted that social support would ease intimidation and thus lessen children's suggestibility. To test these predictions, children were inter-viewed either once after a 4-week delay or twice, following 2- and 4-week delays, and under either "reinforcing" or "nonreinforcing" conditions. Age differences in answers to specific and misleading questions and in performance on a photo identification task were prevalent. However, multiple interviews and reinforce-ment supported more accurate reports. Training was effective in reducing false identifications on the photo identification task, especially for older children. Children's accuracy was unrelated to parental ratings of the stressfulness of the event. Our findings have implications for the testimony of child victim witnesses and for child-adult reconstruction of a child's past history.(Psychology)

Children's testimony often plays a central role in prosecutions of child sexual abuse. Nevertheless, research on jurors' perceptions of the credibility of child sexual assault victims remains limited. In three experiments, we examined mock jurors' reactions to children's testimony about sexual abuse. Participant jurors were exposed to videotaped or written scenarios of child sexual abuse trials and then rated victim credibility and defendant guilt. Analyses indicated that: (a) victim age was either inversely related or unrelated to perceptions of victim credibility, (b) women were more likely than men to find child victims credible, (c) corroborating testimony from a child victim increased the credibility of another child victim, and (d) exposure of participants to past criminal acts and other negative defendant character evidence heightened perceived victim credibility and defendant guilt. Implications for understanding jurors' reactions to child witnesses are discussed.

No abstract

Research on children's eyewitness testimony demonstrates that interviewer-provided social support given during a mock forensic interview helps children resist an interviewer's misleading suggestions about past events. We proposed and tested 1 potential mechanism underlying support effects: "Resistance Efficacy," or children's perceived self-efficacy for resisting an interviewer's suggestions. Eighty-one 6-and 7-year-old children experienced a play event, then were interviewed about the event with misleading and specific questions. Consistent with prior research, children interviewed by a supportive person were more resistant to misleading suggestions than were those interviewed by a nonsupportive person. Although Resistance Efficacy did not mediate the effects of interviewer support in the full sample, additional analyses revealed that Resistance Efficacy may be a mediator for older, but not younger, children. Contrary to predictions, children's preexisting social support reserves were not related to children's interview accuracy nor to perceived Resistance Efficacy. Implications for psychological theory are discussed, as well as implications for understanding and improving children's eyewitness reports.

No abstract