Citation

Sternberg KJ, Lamb ME, Orbach Y, Esplin PW, Mitchell S. J. Appl. Psychol. 2001; 86(5): 997-1005.

Affiliation

Section on Social and Emotional Development, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2001, American Psychological Association)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

11596815

Abstract

One hundred alleged victims of child sexual abuse (ages 4-12 years; M = 8.1 years) were interviewed by police investigators about their alleged experiences. Half of the children were interviewed using the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development's structured interview protocol, whereas the other children--matched with respect to their age, relationship with the alleged perpetrator, and seriousness of the alleged offenses--were interviewed using standard interview practices. Protocol-guided interviews elicited more information using open-ended prompts and less information using option-posing and suggestive questions than did standard interviews; there were no age differences in the amount of information provided in response to open-ended invitations. In 89% of the protocol interviews, children made their preliminary allegations in response to open-ended prompts, compared with 36% in the standard interviews.

Language: en