Factors influencing the perceived credibility of children alleging physical abuse

Abstract

Adults’ assessments of the credibility of children’s reports are affected by factors including the frequency of abuse, reporting delays and the child’s age. The present study examined whether similar factors affect the perceived credibility of children reporting physical abuse, which is more common than sexual abuse. Two hundred and eight mock jurors read a simulated transcript of a child reporting physical abuse to police and made credibility ratings. Within each transcript, abuse frequency (once, repeated), reporting timing (recent, delayed), police question type (open, closed) and child age (6 or 10 years) were manipulated. The child was considered more credible when the abuse was only experienced once and reported shortly after it occurred, and when prompted with open questions. The child’s age did not affect credibility judgments. Current findings support recommendations to prioritise open questions with children and provide evidence for extension of the benefits of open questions to children’s credibility.

Keywords:

• child interviewing
• child physical abuse
• children’s credibility
• investigative interviewing
• juror perceptions
• police questioning

Ethical standards

Declaration of conflicts of interest

Meaghan C. Danby has declared no conflicts of interest

Stefanie J. Sharman has declared no conflicts of interest

Bianca Klettke has declared no conflicts of interest

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the Deakin University research ethics committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Disclosure of benefit or interest statement

The authors are not aware of any possible conflicts of interest, financial benefits, sources of financial support, corporate involvement, patent holdings, etc.