Talking past each other: Interviewer and child verbal exchanges in forensic interviews

Area of Science:

• Child Psychology
• Forensic Science
• Communication Studies

Background:

• Effective forensic interviewing of children is crucial for investigating sexual abuse allegations.
• Understanding the dynamics between interviewer questioning and child responsiveness is key to accurate information gathering.
• The 'pairing' principle, linking open-ended questions with child responses, is a recognized interviewing technique.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the relationship between interviewer question types, child responsiveness, and interviewer prompting in forensic interviews.
• To determine if interviewers adjust their questioning based on child behavior.
• To assess the effectiveness of different question types in eliciting information from children.

Main Methods:

• Sequential analysis of 103 forensic interviews with children (6-16 years old) alleging sexual abuse.
• Categorization of interviewer questions into broad open-ended, focused open-ended, and closed-ended types.
• Examination of child response patterns (response vs. nonresponse) and interviewer use of the 'pairing' principle.

Main Results:

• Closed-ended prompts were associated with higher child response rates (96%) compared to broad open-ended prompts (83%).
• Nonresponses were unexpectedly more common with broad open-ended prompts than chance would predict.
• Interviewers showed limited adaptation to child behavior and inconsistent use of the 'pairing' principle, leading to communication breakdowns.

Conclusions:

• Current forensic interviewing practices may result in significant communication gaps between interviewers and children.
• Interviewers' questioning styles and children's responsiveness appear largely independent, suggesting missed opportunities for information elicitation.
• Enhanced training and supervision focusing on the 'pairing' principle could improve the effectiveness of forensic interviews with children.