Semistructured child sexual abuse interviews: Interview and child characteristics related to credibility of disclosure

Wood, Barbara; Orsak, Charles G.; Murphy, Maryann; Cross, Herbert J.

doi:10.1016/0145-2134(95)00118-2

Cited by 65 publications

(57 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Because nonverbal expressions of emotions, especially negative emotions, are displayed in micro facial expressions, the coding of emotions may have been compromised in this study. However, other researchers have similarly found that negative emotions are rarely expressed by children disclosing abuse (Sayfan et al, 2008;Wood et al, 1996). Thus the children studied by Sayfan et al were largely rated as having neutral expressions, while those studied by Wood et al were relaxed or neutral.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 83%

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Non-verbal behavior of children who disclose or do not disclose child abuse in investigative interviews

Katz¹,

Hershkowitz²,

Malloy³

et al. 2012

Child Abuse & Neglect

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a b s t r a c tObjective: The study focused on children's nonverbal behavior in investigative interviews exploring suspicions of child abuse. The key aims were to determine whether non-verbal behavior in the pre-substantive phases of the interview predicted whether or not children would disclose the alleged abuse later in the interview and to identify differences in the nonverbal behaviors of disclosing and non-disclosing children. Method: We studied DVD-recorded interviews of 40 alleged victims of child abuse. In all cases, there was external evidence strongly suggesting that abuse had occurred. However, half of the children disclosed abuse when interviewed using the NICHD Investigative Interview Protocol, whereas the other half did not. Two raters, unaware whether or not the children disclosed, independently coded the videotapes for nonverbal indices of positive and negative emotions, stress, and physical disengagement in each 15-second unit of the introductory, rapport building, and substantive interview phases. Results: Indicators of stress and physical disengagement increased as the interviews progressed while indices of positive emotions decreased. Non-disclosers showed proportionately more physical disengagement than disclosers in both the introductory and substantive phases. Conclusions: Awareness of non-verbal behavior may help investigators identify reluctant children early in forensic interviews. Practice implications: There is substantial evidence that, when questioned by investigators, many children do not disclose that they have been abused. The early detection of reluctance to disclose may allow interviewers to alter their behavior, helping the children overcome their reluctance by providing non-suggestive support before the possibility of abuse is discussed. Of course, nonverbal behavior alone should not be used to assess children in investigative interviews. However, nonverbal cues may nonetheless provide additional information to interviewers and assist them in identifying reluctant children.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 83%

“…Wood, Orsak, Murphy, and Cross (1996) examined interviews conducted with 2-to 11-year-olds and coded the presence of the following nonverbal cues: emotions, attentiveness, and whether children were on or off task. As would be expected, older children were more "attentive/on task."…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Non-verbal behavior of children who disclose or do not disclose child abuse in investigative interviews

Katz¹,

Hershkowitz²,

Malloy³

et al. 2012

Child Abuse & Neglect

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“…Studies reveal that child victims do not often display what adults assume is "normative" disclosure behavior when child victims are recounting sexual abuse. In fact, children in forensic interviews and at trial often display relatively neutral emotion when describing the sexual abuse they have endured (Goodman et al, 1992;Gray, 1993;Sayfan et al, 2008;Wood et al, 1996). Findings of the present study reveal that adults' expect child victims, especially younger ones, to display some neutral affect, but that adults are more likely to expect a display of stronger emotion, such as sadness, fear, and anger.…”

Section: Emotion Display Expectationsmentioning

confidence: 45%

“…Instead, on average, children in forensic interviews display relatively matter-of-fact emotion when disclosing abuse (Sayfan et al, 2008;Wood, Orsak, Murphy, & Cross, 1996). Even during courtroom testimony, many children's affect appears neutral or flat (Gray, 1993).…”

mentioning

confidence: 98%

Expectations of Emotions during Testimony: The Role of Communicator and Perceiver Characteristics

Bederian-Gardner

Goldfarb

2014

Behavioral Sci & The Law

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This study investigated the influence of communicator (child victim) and perceiver (adult participant) characteristics on expectations about witnesses' emotional displays during testimony. In total, 191 adults were asked whether or not they expected child victims who were testifying about sexual abuse to display sadness, fear, anger, disgust, happiness, or a neutral demeanor, and how intensely the adults expected each emotion to be displayed. In describing the victims, child age (5 vs. 13 years old) and child gender (female vs. male) were factorially combined as within-subject factors. Results included that victim gender predicted expectations of fear, and victim age predicted expectations of anger and disgust. There was a significant interaction of victim age and victim gender for expectations of sadness. Of participants who expected multiple emotions, a combination of negative and neutral emotions was expected more from 13-year-old female victims than from 5-year-old female victims. Child victim empathy predicted ratings of how intensely sad and fearful the child victim would look. Implications of these findings for psychological research and the legal system are discussed.

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“…An argument that has been made is that younger victims are more likely to delay or refrain from disclosing the sexual abuse entirely ( Hershkowitz, Horowitz, & Lamb, 2005;Keary & Fitzpatrick, 1994;Sjöberg & Lindblad, 2002;Wood, Orsak, Murphy, & Cross, 1996). One reason for this behavior is that younger victims may not remember being abused (London et al, 2008;Sjöberg & Linblad, 2002).…”

Section: Non-disclosurementioning

confidence: 99%

Coping with Sexual Abuse

Romeo¹,

Otgaar²,

Landström³

2018

PROUST

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General consensus exists in the psychological literature with regard to what constitutes child sexual abuse (CSA) and the negative implications for victims of CSA throughout the course of their lives. Recently, different types of cognitive strategies that victims may use to cope with CSA and the possible effects of these coping strategies on memory have received considerable empirical attention. The first aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the current literature about why, how, and when victims of CSA use the cognitive coping strategies of false denial, disclosure, and recantation to cope with psychological, emotional, and even interpersonal implications of their abuse. Over the years, disclosure is the one strategy that has been researched extensively, whereas research on false denial and recantation has barely just begun. The second aim is to provide a recent overview of the relationship between coping strategies and memory in the context of CSA. Specifically, we will discuss how false denials may have the potential to negatively affect a victim's memory. Finally, we present an argument for the need to undertake research into insufficiently examined coping strategies such as false denial and recantation.

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Semistructured child sexual abuse interviews: Interview and child characteristics related to credibility of disclosure

Cited by 65 publications

References 36 publications

Non-verbal behavior of children who disclose or do not disclose child abuse in investigative interviews

Non-verbal behavior of children who disclose or do not disclose child abuse in investigative interviews

Expectations of Emotions during Testimony: The Role of Communicator and Perceiver Characteristics

Coping with Sexual Abuse

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