Suzanne L. Davis

Maltreated Children's Memory: Accuracy, Suggestibility, and Psychopathology

Memory, suggestibility, stress arousal, and trauma-related psychopathology were examined in 328 3- to 16-year-olds involved in forensic investigations of abuse and neglect. Childrens memory and suggestibility were assessed for a medical examination and venipuncture. Being older and scoring higher in cognitive functioning were related to fewer inaccuracies. In addition, cortisol level and trauma symptoms in children who reported more dissociative tendencies were associated with increased memory error, whereas cortisol level and trauma symptoms were not associated with increased error for children who reported fewer dissociative tendencies. Sexual and/or physical abuse predicted greater accuracy. The study contributes important new information to scientific understanding of maltreatment, psychopathology, and eyewitness memory in children.

Effects of Social Support on Children's Eyewitness Reports: A Test of the Underlying Mechanism

Research on childrens eyewitness testimony demonstrates that interviewer-provided social support given during a mock forensic interview helps children resist an interviewers misleading suggestions about past events. We proposed and tested 1 potential mechanism underlying support effects: “Resistance Efficacy,” or childrens perceived self-efficacy for resisting an interviewers 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, childrens preexisting social support reserves were not related to childrens interview accuracy nor to perceived Resistance Efficacy. Implications for psychological theory are discussed, as well as implications for understanding and improving childrens eyewitness reports.

Consistency in children's reports of sexual and physical abuse

OBJECTIVE The goal of the present study was to investigate the consistency of childrens reports of sexual and physical abuse. METHOD A group of 222 children, ages 3-16 years, participated. As part of legal investigations, the children were interviewed twice about their alleged experiences of abuse. The consistency of childrens reports of sexual and physical abuse was examined in the two interviews, in relation to age, type of abuse, gender, memory, suggestibility, and cognitive capabilities. RESULTS Older children were more consistent than younger children in their reports of sexual and physical abuse. Children were more consistent when reporting sexual abuse than physical abuse. Girls were more consistent than boys in sexual abuse reports. Consistency in sexual abuse reports was predicted by measures of memory, whereas consistency in physical abuse reports was not. Cognitive abilities did not predict consistency in sexual abuse or physical abuse reports. CONCLUSIONS Implications for understanding childrens allegations of abuse are discussed.

Effects of Past Abuse Experiences on Children's Eyewitness Memory

Relations between child maltreatment and childrens eyewitness memory were examined. A matched sample of abused and nonabused 3- to 10-year-old children (n = 70) participated in a play session with an unfamiliar adult and were interviewed about the interaction 2 weeks later. Consistent with results from previous research, older compared to younger childrens reports were more complete and accurate. Abused and nonabused children performed similarly with several exceptions: Nonabused children were more accurate in answering specific questions, made fewer errors in identifying the unfamiliar adult in a photo identification task, and (at least for younger boys) freely recalled more information. Most effects remained when group differences in IQ and behavioral symptomology were statistically controlled. Importantly, abused and nonabused children did not differ in their accuracy or suggestibility in response to questions that were relevant to abusive actions. Among abused children, however, those who suffered more severe sexual abuse made more omission errors to specific abuse-relevant questions. Contributions to psychological theory and legal implications for understanding childrens eyewitness memory and testimony are discussed.

Social and Scientific Influences on the Study of Children's Suggestibility: A Historical Perspective

Modern research on childrens suggestibility is largely designed to answer questions that arise when children become victim-witnesses in the legal system. However, this was not the case during earlier historical periods. In this article, the author expands previous discussions of the history of childrens suggestibility research by examining the historical relation between societal beliefs and scientific inquiry about childrens suggestibility, highlighting literature excluded from prior historical reviews of childrens testimony. The author also considers the modern researcher in historical context.