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Contents
- Abstract
- INTRODUCTION
- Interviewer-Provided Social Support
- A Self-Efficacy Explanation for the Effects of Interviewer-Provided Support
- Social Support Reserves and Resistance Efficacy
- Overview
- METHOD
- Participants
- Materials
- Demographic Questionnaire
- Social Support Reserves Scale (Zelkowitz, 1989)
- Resistance Efficacy Scale (RES)
- A-State Scale of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children (STAIC; Spielberger, 1979)
- Mock Forensic Interview
- Procedure
- RESULTS
- Preliminary Analyses
- Effects of Interviewer-Provided Social Support and Support Reserves on Interview Responses
- Free Recall
- Detailed Questions
- Explaining Interviewer Support Effects: A Test of the Proposed Model
- Correct Responses
- Commission Errors
- Exploring Age Differences in the Proposed Model
- Correlations Between RES Scores and Resistance to Misleading Questions for Older and Younger Children
- Scale Reliabilities for Older and Younger Children
- Intercorrelations Among the RES and Anxiety Scale for Older and Younger Children
- Test of the Proposed Model for Older Children
- Correct Responses
- Commission Errors
- The Relation of Resistance Efficacy to Other Dependent Variables
- Effects Associated With Anxiety
- Children’s Accuracy on Abuse-Related Questions
- DISCUSSION
- Mediators of Interviewer-Provided Social Support
- Resistance Efficacy
- Children’s Anxiety
- Effects of Individual Differences on Children’s Report Accuracy
- Generalizability to Forensic Interview Situations
- CONCLUSION
- Appendix A
- Appendix B
Figures and Tables
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.
INTRODUCTION
Over the past two...