Effects of social support on children's eyewitness reports: A test of the underlying mechanism.

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.

Understanding rapport-building in investigative interviews: Does rapport's effect on witness memory and suggestibility depend on the interviewer?

“…A considerable amount of research has examined the effects of rapport-building on child witness recall within an investigative interview (e.g., Almerigogna, Ost, Bull & Akehurst, 2007;Carter, Bottoms & Levine, 1996;Davis & Bottoms, 2002;Hershkowitz, 2011). This research generally supports the notion that a comfortable environment increases child witness recall accuracy and reduces susceptibility to misinformation.…”

“…Similarly, other researchers have noted that the decrease in suggestibility may be the result of a fostered sense of empowerment, improving the child's resistance to suggestibility (Carter et al, 1996;Davis & Bottoms, 2002). …”

“…That is, after social support is built, the child witness feels empowered and less pressured to be compliant with the interviewer's request (e.g., acquiescing to a suggestive question), compared to no social support. The authors point out that this is likely mediated by constructs such as perceived resistance efficacy, in which older children are more likely to have increased confidence telling an adult he/she is wrong than younger children (Davis & Bottoms, 2002). The second prong of social support's effect on witness reports addresses the enhanced memory performance found in many child witness social support studies.…”

From the archive: ‘Individual differences in children's suggestibility: A review and synthesis’ by M. Bruck & L. Melnyk (2004). Applied Cognitive Psychology, 18, 947–996 with commentary

“…Also, with the exception of Burgwyn-Bailes et al, 2001), 9 this effect was obtained for older children and not for preschoolers. For example, Davis and Bottoms (2002) found that children who felt confident about telling an adult he or she was wrong succumbed to few misleading questions, if the children were older than 6.5 years and if they were interviewed by a supportive interviewer. In other words, the supportive interviewer increased older children's feelings of self-efficacy which in turn lowered (Gudjonsson, 1989); RCMAS ¼ Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale (Reynolds & Richmond, 1978); EAS ¼ Emotionality, Activity, and Sociability Temperament Questionnaire (Buss & Plomin, 1984); CTS ¼ Carey Temperament Scales Behavioural Style Questionnaire (McDevitt & Carey, 1996); CBQ ¼ Children's Behaviour Questionnaire (Rothbart et al, 1994); TABC ¼ Temperament Assessment Battery for Children (Martin, 1988); CSDS ¼ Children's Social Desirability Scale (Crandall, Crandall, & Katkovsky, 1965); CSDC ¼ Comprehensive Social Desirability Scale for Children (Walsh, Tomlinson-Keasey, & Klieger, 1974); DICE ¼ DissociationImagination-Compliance Event Checklist (Shapiro & Purdy, 2004); bizarre questions based on Hughes and Grieve (1980) and Pratt 1990); CTI ¼ Child Temperament Inventory (Buss & Plomin, 1984).…”

Boys will be boys: a pre‐line‐up gameplay has beneficial effects on boys' but not girls' identification performance

“…In addition, it is recommendable to reduce stress in the child witness. The criminal investigation is likely to induce feelings of anxiety and inadequacy (Davis & Bottoms, 2002;Saywitz & Camparo, 1998), which may hamper the child's participation. Stress reduction can be achieved by a short relaxation procedure (e.g.…”