Verbal ability, depression, and anxiety as correlates of interrogative suggestibility in children exposed to life adversities

ABSTRACT

In the present study, we assess the relationship of verbal ability, depression, and anxiety with interrogative suggestibility (IS) in a sample of children exposed to life adversities and requiring assistance by the governmental social service (n = 39), as compared with normal controls (n = 36). The Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scale 2 was administered to participants in a battery including measures of memory capacity, verbal ability, depression, and anxiety. The finding showed that the ‘assisted’ children were significantly more suggestible than the controls with a large effect size for Yield 1 and total suggestibility. In addition, IS was negatively correlated with verbal memory and ability, but not with anxiety and depression. The two groups differed as to their level of total suggestibility after adjusting for verbal ability. Implications of the findings for the forensic assessment of vulnerable subjects are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Interrogative suggestibility
• children
• life adversities
• Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scale
• verbal ability

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the help of Carmine D’Aucelli, Maria Aida Tatiana Episcopo, Apollonia Laera, Donatella Pasquadibisceglie, Francesca Santolla, Sister Paola, Antonia Speranza for enabling data collection in the day care service and school. The authors also thank Silvana Caldarola, Imma Deleonardis, Maria Giovanna Ferrandino, Francesca Matera, Michela Murgolo, Lia Parente, Valentina Padolecchia, Valentina Petrera, Maristella Scattaglia, Emanuela Soleti, Elena Valentini, for their precious collaboration in collecting data.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

ORCID

Antonietta Curci http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0932-7152

Notes

1 A power analysis, ran through the GPower software 3.1.9.2 (Faul, Erdfelder, Buchner, & Lang, 2009), accounted for the appropriateness of our sample size (N = 75), with α = .05, power = .80, and a medium effect size (Cohen f² ≥ .20).