Citation

Lamb ME, Sternberg KJ, Esplin PW. J. Appl. Dev. Psychol. 1994; 15(2): 255-280.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1994, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Reports of maltreatment involving young children have increased in recent years. In many cases, alleged victims and perpetrators are the only sources of information about the incidents concerned. This has prompted many efforts to evaluate the reliability and validity of information provided by young children, who are widely believed to be handicapped by a lack of linguistic facility, poor memories, susceptibility to suggestion, and a tendency to confuse fantasy and reality. The relevant literature on these issues is summarized in this article, in which we then suggest ways of interviewing children so as to obtain the most reliable and informative accounts of events they have experienced. Considerable emphasis is placed on the needs to: (a) elicit accounts from free recall, (b) use directive or leading questions sparingly and only in specific circumstances, and (c) develop systematic procedures for evaluating children's testimony.