Children's recantation of adult wrongdoing: An experimental investigation

Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
Lindsay C Malloy, Allison P Mugno

Abstract

Child maltreatment cases often hinge on a child's word versus a defendant's word, making children's disclosures crucially important. There is considerable debate concerning why children recant allegations, and it is imperative to examine recantation experimentally. The purpose of this laboratory analogue investigation was to test (a) how often children recant true allegations of an adult's wrongdoing after disclosing and (b) whether children's age and caregiver supportiveness predict recantation. During an interactive event, 6- to 9-year-olds witnessed an experimenter break a puppet and were asked to keep the transgression a secret. Children were then interviewed to elicit a disclosure of the transgression. Mothers were randomly assigned to react supportively or unsupportively to this disclosure, and children were interviewed again. We coded children's recantations (explicit denials of the broken puppet after disclosing) and changes in their forthcomingness (shifts from denial or claims of lack of knowledge/memory to disclosure and vice versa) in free recall and in response to focused questions about the transgression. Overall, 23.3% of the children recanted their prior disclosures (46% and 0% in the unsupportive and supportive...Continue Reading

References

Jan 1, 1986·Child Abuse & Neglect·P G NeyP Trought
Aug 1, 1994·Child Abuse & Neglect·T P CrossD Whitcomb
Jun 14, 2002·Law and Human Behavior·Bette L BottomsSherilyn N Thomas
Jul 2, 2003·Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, and Allied Disciplines·Jodi A QuasDavid Jones
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Sep 1, 2005·Law and Human Behavior·Jodi A QuasClarke Stewart
Jul 19, 2006·Child Abuse & Neglect·Irit HershkowitzDvora Horowitz
Jan 24, 2007·Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry·Lindsay C MalloyJodi A Quas
Jul 18, 2012·Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology·Deirdre A BrownEmma Stephens
Jul 31, 2013·Child Maltreatment·Lindsay C MalloyMichael E Lamb
Apr 29, 2014·Journal of Experimental Child Psychology·Lindsay C MalloyElizabeth C Ahern

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Citations

May 29, 2016·Child Maltreatment·Lindsay C MalloyJodi A Quas

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