Children's Elaborated Responses to Yes-No Questions in Forensic Interviews About Sexual Abuse.

Children tend to answer yes-no questions with unelaborated "yes" and "no" responses, but the types of details likely omitted from unelaborated answers have not been explored. This study examined 379 4- to 12-year-olds' answers to yes-no questions in forensic interviews about CSA ( = 11,187), focusing on age differences in elaborated responses. As expected, older children elaborated more frequently than younger children.

Attorneys' Questions and Children's Responses Referring to the Nature of Sexual Touch in Child Sexual Abuse Trials.

Eliciting clear descriptions of sexual body parts and abusive touch in child sexual abuse trials is challenging because of children's immaturity and embarrassment. This study examined references to sexual body part knowledge and sexual touch in attorneys' questions and 5- to 10-year-old children's responses ( = 2,247) in 113 child sexual abuse trials. Regardless of children's age, attorneys and children primarily used unclear colloquialisms to refer to sexual body parts.

Elaborations and Denials in Children's Responses to Yes-No Any/Some Questions in Forensic Interviews.

This study examined 379 4- to 12-year-old children's answers to any/some and other yes-no questions in forensic interviews about sexual abuse ( = 10,041). Yes-no questions that include the terms any/some (e.g.

Effects of interviewer familiarity and supportiveness on children's recall across repeated interviews.

Objectives: Child witnesses often describe their experiences across multiple interviews. It is unknown whether talking with a familiar interviewer increases disclosures, however, or whether any benefits of a familiar interviewer could be achieved by ensuring that interviewers (regardless of familiarity) behave in socially supportive ways. This study tested the effects of interviewer familiarity and social support on children's reports of an adult's transgressions.

Challenging the Credibility of Alleged Victims of Child Sexual Abuse in Scottish Courts.

This study examined the effects of credibility-challenging questions ( = 2,729) on 62 5- to 17-year-olds' testimony in child sexual abuse cases in Scotland by categorizing the type, source, and content of the credibility-challenging questions defense lawyers asked and assessing how children responded. Credibility-challenging questions comprised 14.9% of all questions asked during cross-examination.