L nterviewing children as part of an investigation is an area ripe with both sensitivity and with controversy. Professional interviewers are coming under increasing scrutiny, and their techniques must pass rigorous review by outside agencies, at the same time serving the needs of children.

This study examined witnesses' answers to repeated questions about a novel event, both within and across interviews. Ss in 4 age groups (4-, 6-, and 8-year-olds and adults; N = 133) individually witnessed an ambiguous incident. Some Ss were interviewed immediately and 1 week later; others were interviewed only once, 1 week later. Children were as accurate as adults when responding to open-ended questions, but 4-year-olds were more likely to change responses to yes-no questions. Adults speculated more frequently than children on a specific question about which they had no information, and answers to this question became more certain with repetition. An "inoculation" procedure was successful in reducing the frequency of inappropriate speculation. When openended questions were used, a moderate amount of repetition primarily influenced presentation style rather than accuracy.

Licensed U.S. doctoral-level psychotherapists randomly sampled from the National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology (Surveys 1 and 2, n = 145; Council for the National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology, 1992) and British psychologists sampled from the Register of Chartered Clinical Psychologists (Survey 2, n = 57; British Psychological Society, 1993) were surveyed regarding clients' memories of childhood sexual abuse (CSA). The 3 samples were highly similar on the vast majority of measures. Respondents listed a wide variety of behavioral symptoms as potential indicators of CSA, and 71% indicated that they had used various techniques (e.g., hypnosis, interpretation of dreams) to help clients recover suspected memories of CSA. Across samples, 25% of the respondents reported a constellation of beliefs and practices suggestive of a focus on memory recovery, and these psychologists reported relatively high rates of memory recovery in their clients.

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