Jodi A. Quas - US grants

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Although there is much interest in the study of emotions and memory in childhood, empirical findings have been mixed. One reason for the discrepancies concerns individual differences among children. Specifically, the relations between emotion and memory may depend on characteristics in children that affect both their emotional reactions to and memory for their experiences. The purpose of the proposed research is, first, to determine whether individual differences in children's physiological reactivity, that is, children's ability to regulate their physiological reactions to stress, influence their memory for negative and positive emotional information, and second, to determine the processes by which reactivity influences children's memory. One hundred twenty five-year-olds will take part in a protocol composed of challenging tasks. During the protocol, children's physiological responses will be monitored to identify reactive and nonreactive children. Reactive children have difficulty regulating their responses. They tend to exhibit exaggerated, prolonged physiological reactions to stress, whereas nonreactive children are better able to regulate their reactions. Two weeks after the protocol, children's memory for negative and positive emotional information (e.g., emotionally evocative video clips) will be tested. Within the reactive and nonreactive groups, half of the children will be questioned by a friendly, supportive interviewer, and half will be questioned by a cold, nonsupportive interviewer. By manipulating interviewer-provided social support, it will be possible to determine if encoding failures or some other factor (e.g., retrieval difficulties) underlie associations between emotion and memory in some children (i.e., those considered physiologically reactive). Broadly, the study's results will advance theory concerning how emotions affect memory in childhood. The results will also provide practical information about children's ability to recount personal, emotional experiences. By identifying the mechanisms that underlie children's memory for emotional information, it will be possible to determine whether or not and how best to intervene and improve their memory abilities. This knowledge will benefit educators, clinicians, legal professionals, and others charged with the responsibility of obtaining accurate and complete accounts from children across a variety of contexts.

Primary Investigators: Jodi A. Quas and Lindsay Malloy

Title: Doctoral Dissertation Research: Maltreated and Non-Maltreated Children's Evaluations
of the Consequences of Disclosing Negative Events

0720421

Abstract

Prosecution of child maltreatment is an especially challenging endeavor, in part because children are typically reluctant to reveal abuse and corroborating evidence rarely exists. Victims may fear negative consequences of disclosure, which may lead to nondisclosure, delays, or inconsistent reporting- all of which affect the likelihood of successful prosecution. The purpose of the proposed study is to advance understanding of maltreated and nonmaltreated children's perceptions of the consequences of disclosing negative events. Findings will concurrently improve intervention and prosecution of child maltreatment cases and make theoretical contributions to understanding development in vulnerable children. Research questions include: (1) Are there age-related changes and ethnic differences in children's perceptions of disclosure consequences?; (2) Do maltreated and nonmaltreated children's perceptions vary?; (3) How does the perpetrator's relationship to the victim affect children's evaluations?; and (4) Do children's perceptions vary as a function of self-blame or how the caregiver reacts to disclosure? To answer these questions, a large, ethnically diverse sample of 4- to 9-year-old children will take part in the current study. Half of the children will have been removed from their homes due to maltreatment deemed true by Department of Children and Family Services. The remaining children will be recruited from schools in neighborhoods similar to ones in which maltreated children reside. Children will be read scenarios that describe a child character telling his/her mother about the wrongdoing of an adult (either a father or stranger). In some vignettes, children will be asked about how the mother will react to the story character's disclosure. In other vignettes, children will be told how the mother reacts to the story character's disclosure and asked to predict the subsequent consequences and the story character's feelings. Findings will be widely disseminated to scientific and nonscientific audiences. By identifying factors that affect children's perceptions of the consequences of disclosure, results will provide insight into potential reasons for nondisclosure and inconsistent reporting. This insight, if conveyed to judges, jurors, and frontline investigators, will significantly advance the pursuit of justice when allegations of maltreatment arise. Also, to intervene effectively, it is necessary to take into account children's expectations regarding others' reactions so that misperceptions can be corrected. Results will benefit particularly vulnerable victims involved in the justice system, maltreated children, who are disproportionately from low income ethnic minority backgrounds and at risk for a host of later negative outcomes (e.g., juvenile delinquency).

Numerous important theoretical and practical questions exist concerning precisely how stress affects children's memory. Practically, questions focus on whether stress interferes with children's learning in educational situations, whether stress affects the accuracy of children's eyewitness reports, and whether stress influences children's reporting of distressing experiences in clinical settings. Theoretically, questions focus on which specific biological and psychological mechanisms link emotion and cognitive processes in childhood. Although prior studies have examined the effects of stress on children's memory, results have been inconsistent, in part because of large variations in the types of to-be-remembered events studied, in how stress was measured, and in the ages of children included. Studies have also not directly compared children and adolescents, despite the potential for considerable developmental change in the effects of stress on memory. The current studies seek to remedy these confounds. The overarching goals are first to identify developmental changes in the relations between stress and memory, and second to examine how stress at encoding (i.e., during a to-be-remember event) and retrieval (i.e., during an interview) independently and jointly affect children's and adolescents' memory.

In the PI's planned studies, male and female participants, ages 6 through 20, will experience a mildly stressful laboratory event, and a few weeks later, complete a memory test about that event. Measures of physiological and behavioral stress responses will be collected, both during the to-be-remembered event and during the memory interview. The wide age range included, combined with the comprehensive assessment of stress at encoding and retrieval, will allow for a much more complex evaluation of the associations between stress and memory than has heretofore been possible. Moreover, by integrating physiological and behavioral measures of stress, clearer insight into the mechanisms linking stress and memory can be gained. Overall, knowledge derived from the studies will provide much-needed answers to questions about when and how stress affects memory across development.

Research concerning children's eyewitness abilities has repeatedly demonstrated harmful effects of suggestive questioning and superior accuracy of free-recall reports. However, children's free recall is often incomplete, and new interview methods are needed that enhance children's productivity without increasing contamination. In the current research, we are examining whether several very simple and easily implemented interviewer behaviors can do just this. Such behaviors include vocatives (e.g., stating the child's name), which focus the child's attention; and back-channel utterances (e.g., following responses with "uh huh"), which convey interviewer attentiveness. These behaviors have been observed in field research of forensic interviews. However, because ground truth is not known and there is no control over the use of the behaviors in naturalistic settings, the actual effects of these behaviors on productivity and accuracy are unknown. We are experimentally testing the effects of these interviewer behaviors, collectively referred to as facilitative utterances, on 4- to 9-year olds' descriptions of a salient event, namely a laboratory activity involving a minor transgression (toy breakage). Our procedures will allow us to determine whether facilitative utterances increase how much children report about prior experiences, particularly those that include some negative components, and whether the benefits of facilitative utterances vary with age, for example, as children become more competent recounting past events without assistance from others.

Overall, our project will advance science and policy at the interface of developmental psychology and the law. Considerable uncertainty remains about how best to elicit detailed narrative reports from suspected child victims. Much of this uncertainty is attributable to a lack of experimental investigation of interviewer behaviors commonly observed in field practices. By conducting a systematic assessment of potentially critical interviewer behaviors, we will be able to decrease some of this uncertainty, thereby improving the identification of truly abused children and the legal system's ability to pursue justice in cases involving alleged abuse.

Researchers, clinicians, and child welfare professionals alike recognize that nondisclosure and delayed reporting of child maltreatment is a significant concern that prevents the identification and treatment of abuse victims. Because of this concern, interviewing techniques effective in increasing disclosures while remaining non-suggestive are sorely needed.

The current study will investigate such an interviewing technique termed the putative confession (PC), which involves an interviewer telling children that the perpetrator has already told everything that happened and wants [the child] to tell the truth. The technique follows from precepts of Social Cognitive Theory in that it directly addresses internal and external motivational influences on children?s disclosures by both providing reassurance and making an explicit appeal to tell the truth. Two studies have found that PC is effective in increasing disclosures of adults? transgressions. However, whether PC may augment false reports when children have been previously exposed to misinformation regarding allegations of wrongdoing has not been tested. It is critical to do so because in actual maltreatment investigations children often experience conversations with others (e.g. caregivers) that may expose them to misinformation about incorrect abuse allegations. In the current study, children will experience a laboratory play session during which a transgression (toys breaking) will or will not occur. Subsequently, children will be questioned by a parent, who has or has not been given suggestive information that something bad happened during play. Finally, children will experience an investigative interview in which the interviewer will employ either the PC or control instructions. The experimental methodology will allow a clear test of the impact of PC on true and false disclosures, and of how exposure to misinformation may augment its efficacy.

Results have the potential to advance our knowledge regarding how certain investigative interview technique specifically designed to elicit disclosures from reluctant children may operate in the field. Additionally, the research will provide opportunities for introducing undergraduates to the process of conducting scientific research.

Engagement in court proceedings is legally required, expected, and helps to ensure that the judicial process is equitable and fair to all participants. Engagement generally refers to defendants' understanding and appreciation of their legal situation, their ability to participate, and their interactions with legal actors. Engagement can also refer to court actions that promote or deter defendants' involvement. Despite substantial attention focused on engagement in adult defendants, very little is known about engagement among juvenile defendants. Because of the large number of youth who come into contact with the legal system as defendants, and because of their potential vulnerabilities in general legal understanding and ability to participate, it is crucial to evaluate the depth of youth engagement in court proceedings and determine whether adverse consequences (e.g., recidivism) emerge as a result of a lack of engagement. The goal of this collaborative research is to conduct a comprehensive, multi-method investigation of youth engagement in one critical hearing in which virtually all youth defendants participate: the plea hearing. Findings will lay a much-needed foundation for understanding not only how engaged youth are in the plea process and their legal case generally, but also of how specific characteristics in youth or the case (e.g., in which court setting it is prosecuted) affect engagement. Findings will also inform existing models of procedural justice and therapeutic jurisprudence beliefs, which posit that higher levels of engagement lead to better outcomes, such as improved compliance with the court and reduced recidivism. Because offending often begins in adolescence, determining the degree to which youth legal engagement affects these outcomes is important to prevention and intervention efforts with this population. Finally, findings have the potential to ensure that youthful defendants--processed in juvenile and criminal courts--comprehend and participate in their legal situation (as legally mandated), by highlighting practices and policies that serve to augment or inhibit legal engagement.

In the study, engagement in the plea process will be examined in two court setting--juvenile and adult criminal court--among youth aged 14 to 18 years. Specific objectives are to: (1) Identify the degree to which youth in the different court settings are engaged in their case and plea hearing; (2) Determine how interactions between the youth and key legal professionals influence the youth's level of engagement; (3) Evaluate how the culture and climate of the court affects youth engagement; and (4) Examine the links between youth engagement in the plea process and outcomes (court/probation compliance, recidivism). In juvenile and criminal courts in Orange County, CA, and Albany County, NY, 400 plea hearings of youth will be observed and coded; interviews/surveys will be conducted with attorneys, judges, and juvenile defendants; and documentation on youth outcomes a year post-plea will be collected and analyzed. Using advanced statistical procedures, youth characteristics, social interactions, and court contexts will be analyzed to determine how they relate to youth engagement, and in turn how engagement relates to youth outcomes.

In contrast to the expansive and highly influential body of research on children's memory and suggestibility, which has led to clear guidelines about how to elicit accurate testimony from child victims of sexual abuse, little is known about how to question adolescent victims, even though they represent a large proportion of victims who have suffered a range of sexual abuse experiences and are questioned by law enforcement and legal authorities. The lack of guidelines is even more striking for sexually trafficked adolescents, who are often identified as criminal suspects and questioned by police, not trained forensic specialists. How to approach and interview adolescent victims, particularly those who have been trafficked, has never been comprehensively examined. Yet professionals, including interviewers and police, must question these adolescents in a way that elicits clear disclosures from the victims about their experiences in order to intervene, ensure their protection, and prosecute those who commit these heinous crimes. This study will systematically evaluate actual interviews by law enforcement and legal professionals with suspected adolescent victims, including those who have been trafficked. It will determine what types of questioning approaches are used, what approaches are more or less effective at eliciting abuse and trafficking details, and how the questions and victims' responses relate to the outcomes of criminal cases against traffickers. The results of the research will inform scientific models of disclosure patterns in highly vulnerable populations of victims. The results will also impact policy and practice by providing crucial insight into effective questioning approaches with adolescent sexual abuse victims, especially those who have been trafficked, thereby laying the foundation for training protocols on these approaches and long-lasting improvements in practice and policy.

This research will specifically involve reviewing and coding 340 interview transcripts of adolescent victims, half trafficking victims and half adolescents who have experienced other forms of sexual abuse. For cases that went to trial, transcripts of the victims' testimony, case details and case outcome data will also be collected and coded. Statistical analyses will focus on the types of questions asked and the tone of the questions (for instance, whether the tone is supportive or interrogation-like), as well as characteristics of the victims' responses, such as whether they disclose abuse, the amount of detail they provide, the content of what they report, and their levels of evasiveness. With this extensive coding system, linkages between the question and response categories will be evaluated to determine what kinds of questions are more versus less effective at eliciting specific types of responses from victims and how the questions and responses, directly and interactively, relate to case outcomes.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

In contrast to large bodies of research devoted to testing methods of improving children’s and adults’ eyewitness capabilities, no comparable amount of research has been directed toward testing methods of enhancing teenagers’ reporting abilities. This omission is striking, considering the sheer number of teen victims of and witnesses to crime: They are second only to young adults in their risk for experiencing violent crime, and teens comprise 22% of abuse and neglect victims. When teens are questioned, it is unclear which of two very different best-practice types of interview strategies would be most helpful at eliciting disclosures from them: strategies developed for children (i.e., largely ages 3-12) or strategies developed for adults (i.e., college age and older). Teenagers’ general reluctance to tell adults about their negative or risky experiences, combined with their increasingly common engagement in risky behavior, feelings of autonomy about their actions, and allegiance to peers who may have acted in delinquent or risky ways all decrease their willingness to disclose when they have experienced or witnessed crime. Yet, in order to protect these teens, law enforcement, as well as parents, teachers, and other concerned adults, need guidance on how best to overcome this reluctance and elicit complete and accurate reports from teens. The purpose of the present research is to provide this guidance.

Two studies will test the effects of pre-interview rapport building strategies on 14-19 year-olds’ reports of a prior misdeed they committed (Study 1, n=306) or negative event they witnessed (Study 2, n=306). Rapport building, which is designed to foster open communication between an interviewer and interviewee, includes a number of different strategies. Three will be compared in the current studies: (a) interviewers and teens will begin with a mutual self-disclosure activity, which has been shown to increase reporting in adults; (b) interviewers will begin by having teens practice answering open-ended questions, an activity that increases reporting in children, or (c) interviewers will begin by asking closed-ended questions (e.g., How old are you?), a traditional low rapport approach. Half of the interviews will be conducted in person and half will be conducted remotely via Zoom. Undergraduate and graduate students will assist in all phases, and a postdoctoral scholar will co-direct the studies. Findings will provide much-needed insight into the efficacy of rapport building on teenager disclosures. Findings will also reveal whether online interviewing formats are a viable alternative to in-person interviews with teens when the latter are precluded because locations are remote or because of safety concerns. Overall, the studies will lay the foundation for the development of best-practice interviewing strategies for vulnerable and often overlooked teenage victims and witnesses.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.