An official website of the United States government
Background: Adolescents frequently experience and witness violence and crime, yet very little research has been conducted to determine how best to question these witnesses to elicit complete and accurate disclosures. Objective: This systematic review integrated scientific research on rapport building with child and adult witnesses with theory and research on adolescent development in order to identify rapport building techniques likely to be effective with suspected adolescent victims and witnesses. Method: Four databases were searched to identify investigations of rapport building in forensic interviewing of adolescents. Results: Despite decades of research of studies including child and adult participants, only one study since 1990 experimentally tested techniques to build rapport with adolescents. Most rapport strategies used with children and adults have yet to be tested with adolescents. Tests of these strategies, along with modifications based on developmental science of adolescence, would provide a roadmap to determining which approaches are most beneficial when questioning adolescent victims and witnesses. Conclusions: There is a clear need for research that tests what strategies are best to use with adolescents. They may be reluctant to disclose information about stressful or traumatic experi- ences to adults due to both normative developmental processes and the types of events about which they are questioned in legal settings. Rapport building approaches tailored to address adolescents’ motivational needs may be effective in increasing adolescents’ reporting, and additional research testing such approaches will provide much-needed insight to inform the development of evidence-based practices for questioning these youth
more »
« less
Building Rapport in Interviews with Adolescent Trafficking Victims
Abstract Though much is known about children's sexual abuse disclosure, less attention has been directed towards disclosure in other types of youthful victims, especially those who may be reluctant to tell due to either normative development or victims' specific experiences. Trafficked youth, particularly those who are adolescents, represent one such group. Understanding how suspected youth trafficking victims are questioned by authorities, especially with respect to establishing rapport and trust, is important for informing professionals how to effectively question this unique population of victims to overcome their reluctance. We examined transcripts of interviews conducted by federal interviewers (n = 12,653 question‐answer turns across 33 interviews) and police (n = 4,972 question‐answer turns across 14 interviews) with trafficked youth between the ages of 12 and 18. Interviews were reliably coded for the length of pre‐substantive questioning, provision of instructions and ground rules, and use of rapport building and supportive strategies. Federal interviewers used pre‐substantive instructions and built rapport with potential victims more often than police did. Also, and although infrequently used overall, supportive interviewing strategies were evident more often by federal interviewers than police. Results provide much‐needed knowledge about how law enforcement investigators interview and elicit disclosures from vulnerable populations of adolescent victims.
more »
« less
- PAR ID:
- 10496083
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Child Abuse Review
- Volume:
- 33
- Issue:
- 2
- ISSN:
- 0952-9136
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
Background: Adolescents frequently experience and witness violence and crime, yet very little research has been conducted to determine how best to question these witnesses to elicit complete and accurate disclosures. Objective: This systematic review integrated scientific research on rapport building with child and adult witnesses with theory and research on adolescent development in order to identify rapport building techniques likely to be effective with suspected adolescent victims and witnesses. Method: Four databases were searched to identify investigations of rapport building in forensic interviewing of adolescents. Results: Despite decades of research of studies including child and adult participants, only one study since 1990 experimentally tested techniques to build rapport with adolescents. Most rapport strategies used with children and adults have yet to be tested with adolescents. Tests of these strategies, along with modifications based on developmental science of adolescence, would provide a roadmap to determining which approaches are most beneficial when questioning adolescent victims and witnesses. Conclusions: There is a clear need for research that tests what strategies are best to use with adolescents. They may be reluctant to disclose information about stressful or traumatic experiences to adults due to both normative developmental processes and the types of events about which they are questioned in legal settings. Rapport building approaches tailored to address adolescents’ motivational needs may be effective in increasing adolescents’ reporting, and additional research testing such approaches will provide much-needed insight to inform the development of evidence-based practices for questioning these youth.more » « less
-
null (Ed.)Little is known about the relation between law enforcement interviewing behaviors and commercially sexually exploited children’s (CSEC) reluctance. This study examined the relation between officers’ use of maximization, (references to) expertise, minimization, and support and adolescent CSEC victims’ reluctance in a small sample of police interviews (n = 2,416 question-answer pairs across ten interviews). Twenty-six percent of officers’ utterances contained at least one interviewing tactic. When statements were paired with maximization, they were correlated with more reluctance than when they were not paired with an interviewing tactic. Contrary to predictions, support was also related to greater reluctance. Open-ended (recall) questions and statements were associated with greater reluctance than closed-ended (recognition) questions. The results highlight the importance of understanding the context in which interviewing strategies are employed when assessing the relation between interviewer behavior and interviewee reluctance.more » « less
-
Adolescents tend to be neglected in research examining child sexual abuse (CSA) interviews, yet are often said to be particularly reluctant. This study examined reluctance among 119 10- to 17-year-old females questioned about suspected CSA ( n = 25,942 responses), utilizing a scheme identifying previously overlooked types of reluctance in commercially sexually exploited (CSE) youth. In contrast to the CSE youth in a prior study, in which 26% of responses were reluctant, only 8% of CSA victims’ responses expressed reluctance. Reluctance was unrelated to age, abuse characteristics, and don’t know (IDK) responding. Greater reluctance (but not IDK responding) was related to disclosure of fewer characteristics of abuse. Virtually all youth (93%) had disclosed prior to the interview, in contrast to previous studies examining reluctance among adolescent victims of internet-initiated sexual abuse and CSE. The way in which abuse is discovered may better explain reluctance than the age of the alleged victims.more » « less
-
Abstract Close peer relationships are critical to children's and adolescents’ healthy development and well‐being, yet youth sometimes struggle to make friends. The present work tested whether an online version of the Fast Friends procedure could engender closeness among 9‐ to 13‐year‐old youth. Participant dyads (N = 131), matched in age and gender, were randomly assigned to answer personal questions that encourage self‐disclosure and play a collaborative game (Fast Friends condition) or to engage in similar activities without self‐disclosure or collaboration (control condition). Fast Friends dyads reported feeling closer and expressed more interest in future contact than control dyads. The discussion addresses potential future uses and implications of an online Fast Friends procedure.more » « less
