The roles of child temperament and interviewer support on children's reports of adult wrongdoing

Researchers have demonstrated that interviewer supportive behaviors positively affect children's abilities to provide information about their experiences in many circumstances, but there is some evidence supportiveness effects may be influenced by temperament. The associations among support, child temperament, and propensity disclose adult transgressions during free recall remain unclear. Children (N = 132) 5 9 years old partook an event where confederate committed six transgressions. children were interviewed a few days later; half neutral interviewer. Within two three months of participation, the teachers completed questionnaire describe each child's While support did not predict these disclosure transgressions, dimensions temperament individual factors did. Specifically, tendencies predicted how socially flexible task-oriented they were. Additionally, interviewers' questioning behavior was impacted level reactivity. Taken together with other research, results further both interviewers interview process are relevant facilitating disclosures sensitive information.