The Effect of a Repeated Interview on Young Children's Eyewitness Memory

Abstract

The effect of multiple interviews on the reliability of child witnesses' testimony is a current concern in both the legal and child welfare fields. This was a preliminary study of the effect of a repeated interview on the memory of five-and six-year old children for an inoculation experience. In general, findings were consistent with those from other ecologically valid studies. The children provided minimal information spontaneously but gave relatively accurate responses to what, who, where and when questions. They often were able to resist suggestible questions, and identify a person present at the inoculation from a photograph. With a repeated interview, children's performance (correct responses and errors) was consistent across time. However, interval did have an effect on some memory tasks. The findings support the current trend towards early interviewing of child witnesses after a crime, followed by minimal re-interviewing.