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MALTREATED CHILDREN'S ABILITY TO ESTIMATE TEMPORAL LOCATION AND NUMEROSITY OF PLACEMENT CHANGES AND COURT VISITS
Lindsay Wandrey1, Thomas D Lyon, Jodi A Quas
1Department of Psychology and Social Behavior, University of California, Irvine.
Summary
Maltreated children have limited ability to recall exact dates or frequency of past events like living changes or court visits. Older children performed better, but caution is advised when questioning them about temporal details.
Area of Science:
- Child Psychology
- Forensic Psychology
- Memory Studies
Background:
- Children's temporal memory research often uses simple events, not applicable to legal contexts.
- Maltreated children face unique challenges recalling past abuse and legal encounters.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess maltreated children's ability to recall temporal location and frequency of personal experiences.
- To evaluate temporal memory in children regarding living arrangements and court visits.
Main Methods:
- Assessed 167 maltreated children aged 6-10 years.
- Examined memory for changes in living arrangements and court visit frequency.
- Analyzed temporal location (age, month, season) and numerosity recall.
Main Results:
- Few children accurately recalled exact temporal details or frequency of past events.
- Current temporal knowledge did not correlate with better past event recall.
- Older children showed better-than-chance performance, with generally accurate reports.
Conclusions:
- Maltreated children's temporal memory for significant life events is limited.
- Caution is recommended when eliciting temporal information from maltreated children in legal settings.
