Child Witness Research and Children’s Rights

Conversations between parents and young children are important in the creation of autobiographical memories—that is, memories pertaining to specific events in one’s life (Fivush 2010). Because parents are also typically the first to converse with and question their children about possible child sexual abuse, it is important to consider the role of a parent’s approach when discussing the possibility of negative events having taken place in a child’s life in the parent’s absence. [...]to previous research, the results of McWilliams and Goodman’s study indicate that parents’ introduction of misinformation into conversations with children may not be as serious a tainting factor in children’s ability later to accurately report information. Unfortunately, such bias can cloud adult judgment. Because racial biases are well documented in American society, they might result in discounting minority children’s suffering and credibility in child sexual abuse cases. [...]this study found that a large