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Effects of caregiver support and interviewer attitude on the accuracy of children’s memory according to anxiety level

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Abstract

This study investigated the effects of parental support and interviewer attitude on children’s free recall of and resistance to suggestive information based on their anxiety level. Ninety children aged 5–8 years were randomly assigned to conditions with or without parental and interviewer support. The results showed that the group with interviewer and parental support exhibited greater free recall and fewer false responses than the group without such support. The impact of parental support depended on the presence or absence of interviewer support and the child’s anxiety level. Specifically, for children with lower anxiety levels, free recall was higher when interviewer support was provided (with or without parental support). For children with higher anxiety, parental support was beneficial only when interviewer support was provided. These findings indicated that interviewer and parental support may be particularly important during investigative interviews with children who display high levels of anxiety. The findings offer a foundation for experts in the field who oversee investigative interviews with children, appearing to increase in number annually, and can also provide useful insights for legal experts and field practitioners who review children’s statements.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the author. The data are not publicly available due to their containing information that could compromise the privacy of research participants.

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Acknowledgements

We thank all the participants and their parents for participating in this study.

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This paper was supported by Konkuk University in 2022.

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  1. Sanghuh College of Humanities, Konkuk University, Seoul, South Korea

    Seungjin Lee

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Lee, S. Effects of caregiver support and interviewer attitude on the accuracy of children’s memory according to anxiety level. Curr Psychol 43, 11243–11253 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-023-05246-0

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