Szojka, Zsofia A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4126-1261 and Lyon, Thomas D. (2023) Children’s elaborated responses to Yes-No questions in forensic interviews about sexual abuse. Child Maltreatment, 29 (4). pp. 637-647. ISSN 1077-5595 (Print), 1552-6119 (Online) (doi:10.1177/10775595231220228)

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Abstract

Children tend to answer yes-no questions with unelaborated “yes” and “no” responses, but the types of details likely omitted from unelaborated answers have not been explored. This study examined 379 4- to 12-year-olds’ answers to yes-no questions in forensic interviews about CSA (N = 11,187), focusing on age differences in elaborated responses. As expected, older children elaborated more frequently than younger children. Our novel categorization of elaboration types revealed that although there were no age differences in children’s use of nominal corrections (correcting a label), or in emphatic negations (giving forceful denials), older children were more likely to give narrative elaborations (providing additional narrative information), wh-elaborations (answering implicit wh-questions), and qualified elaborations (avoiding potentially misleading implications of unelaborated “yes” and “no” responses). The results suggest that children’s developing understanding of the implied meaning of questions and responses helps to explain age differences in elaborative responses to yes-no questions.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Reuse is restricted to non-commercial and no derivative uses.
Uncontrolled Keywords:	investigative interviews, child abuse, forensic interviews, sexual abuse
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology K Law > K Law (General) R Medicine > RJ Pediatrics > RJ101 Child Health. Child health services
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group:	Faculty of Liberal Arts & Sciences Faculty of Liberal Arts & Sciences > School of Law & Criminology (LAC)
Related URLs:	http://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38048761/
Last Modified:	06 Dec 2024 16:29
URI:	http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/48757

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