Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 27, 2026

Assessing the Coherence of Parents' Short Narratives Regarding their Child Using the Five-Minute Speech Sample Procedure
Published on: September 19, 2019
Children's expressed emotions when disclosing maltreatment
Liat Sayfan1, Emilie B Mitchell, Gail S Goodman
1Department of Psychology, University of California, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
Objective:
Our goal was to examine children's expressed emotions when they disclose maltreatment. Little scientific research exists on this topic, and yet children's emotional expressions at disclosure may inform psychological theory and play a crucial role in legal determinations.
Method:
One hundred and twenty-four videotaped forensic interviews were coded for children's emotional displays. In addition, children's trauma-related symptoms (depression, dissociation, and PTSD) and global adaptive functioning were assessed, and abuse type and frequency were documented.
Results:
Most children in the sample evinced neutral emotion during disclosure. However, stronger negative reactions were linked to indices of psychopathology. Number of abuse experiences was inversely related to negative emotional displays.
Conclusion:
Fact finders may profit from knowing that maltreated children do not necessarily cry or display strong emotion when disclosing maltreatment experiences. Nevertheless, predictors of greater negative affect at disclosure can be identified: fewer abuse experiences; higher global adaptive functioning; and for sexually abused children, greater dissociative tendencies.
Practice Implications:
Although further research is needed, practitioners should consider that children who disclose abuse may display relatively neutral affect despite having experienced maltreatment.
Related Concept Videos
Emotional Expression
Universal Facial Expressions
Psychologist Paul Ekman identified seven basic...
Socioemotional Development during Infancy
Primary Temperament Types
Stella Chess...
Coping Strategies: Emotion Focused
Therapeutic Communication
Verbal communication depends on language or a prescribed way of using words so that people can share information effectively. The critical aspects of verbal...
Bullying
Empathy

