Semistructured child sexual abuse interviews: Interview and child characteristics related to credibility of disclosure

This study provided the first empirical description of child and interviewer behaviors occurring within semistructured assessment interviews with children suspected of being victims of sexual abuse. Specifically, relationships between child and interviewer characteristics and interview credibility were examined. Using the Child Abuse Interview Interaction Coding System (CAIICS, Wood, 1990), 55 videotaped interviews of high-risk sex abuse cases seen at a multidisciplinary assessment center were behaviorally coded. Support was found for the interrater reliability and criterion related validity of the CAIICS was found. Results also revealed that children were initially rated as relaxed and displayed few emotional behaviors. Thus, the assumption that a credible disclosure of abuse must necessarily include the display of emotion by the child was not supported. Second, several behavioral differences between preschool and school-aged children were identified: however, no meaningful gender differences were found. Third, supporting evidence was found for both age and gender effects in judgments of interview credibility, with girls and school-aged children judged as more credible. Fourth, while the interviewer did engage in so called leading behaviors, these behaviors were not found to be related to rating of interview credibility. However, interviewer behaviors may have affected interview credibility through an intervening variable. Finally, implications, for further use of the CAIICS for examining interviewer-child interactions, evaluating standards of practice, and assisting with interviewer training are discussed. Cette étude décrit pour la première fois des observations empiriques sur le comportement entre des enfants et des intervenants durant des entrevues semi-structurées. Ces entrevues avaient pour but d'évaluer s'il y avait eu agression sexuelle. Plus particulièrement, l'étude cherchait à étudier les relations entre l'enfant et l'intervenant ainsi que les caractéristiques de l'entrevue et sa crédibilité. On s'est servi du système Child Abuse Interview Interaction Coding System (Wood, 1990) pour codifier 55 entrevues sur vidéo, lesquelles portaient sur des cas d'enfants pour qui la probabilité d'agression sexuelle était grande. On a conclu que l'instrument permet la cohérence entre les divers évaluateurs et que les critères étaient valides. Les résultats indiquent que les enfants avaient été d'abord cotés comme détendus et manifestant peu de comportements é