Santtila, Pekka Olavi

When interviewing children in suspected child sexual abuse (CSA) cases, a common mistake is for interviewers to only ask questions that aim at confirming their initial assumption. Here, we sought to investigate whether experienced emotional states and psychophysiological parameters measured when following a (simulated) CSA interview would be associated with confirmation bias in subsequent question formulation. Psychology students ( N  = 60, M age = 22.75) followed a (simulated) CSA interview while their facially expressed emotions (anger, sadness, disgust, surprize and relief), galvanic skin response, heart rate (HR), and HR variability (HRV) were registered. The interview was then interrupted, and the participants were asked to formulate additional questions they would ask of the interviewee. As predicted, we found that participants who got more (vs. less) disgusted by the interview asked more questions biased towards confirming CSA. Against our expectations, participants who got more (vs. less) surprized also asked more questions biased towards confirming CSA. We also found, as predicted, that lower HRV was associated with more abuse confirming questions. Results suggest that emotions and psychophysiological states participants experience when observing a CSA interview are associated with confirmation bias in how questions are formulated.

Previous research has shown that simulated interviews with avatars can improve question quality, but evidence regarding long‐term effects and the role of experience remains limited. We investigated both short‐ and long‐term impacts of avatar training with feedback in Child Protection Services (CPS) worker and student groups. Thirty‐one CPS workers and 35 novice students interviewed four child avatars, with half receiving feedback after each interview. After 4 months, the training was repeated with all participants receiving feedback. Training with feedback improved investigative interview quality in the short term, with no substantial decline after 4 months. Experience had no effects on interview quality, nor did it moderate training impact. These findings suggest that avatar‐based interview training with feedback could effectively improve investigative interviewing skills across different experience levels, maintaining its effects over a 4‐month period.

Objective We examined the prevalence of different types of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) in Lithuania focusing on how these experiences were related to victim's age and relationship to the perpetrator. Methods The participants came from a representative household survey of youth aged 18–29 and the sample consisted of 2000 participants (47.7 % women) with a mean age of 23.9 years (SD = 3.6). The ISPCAN Child Abuse Screening Tool Retrospective version (ICAST-R, Dunne et al., 2009) for young adults was used to investigate childhood exposure to CSA. Both current sociodemographic information and information on circumstances during childhood (e.g., number of siblings, family members with whom the participant lived between 7 and 12 year of age) were collected. Results The prevalence of any CSA experience before the age of 18 was 15.9 %, with higher rates for women (13.5 % and 18.5 % for men and women, respectively). Being spoken to in a sexual way or sexual things being written about the person was the most prevalent form of CSA. In contrast, number of victims that reported sexual intercourse was much lower. The most common type of perpetrator was another young person. Intrafamilial CSA was rare with higher risk in step-relationships. Conclusions Our study provides representative prevalence estimates of the CSA in a region for which such estimates were not previously available. These Lithuanian estimates correspond well with previous literature. Importantly, the findings point to peers being an important perpetrator group in CSA cases. This and other findings can inform the planning of relevant policy measures and actions to both prevent CSA and investigate cases effectively.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of emotions in the ability to assess a child sexual abuse (CSA) interview and recollection of details from it. The participants were 105 (80 women, Mage = 23.78, SDage = 7.06) undergraduate and graduate students. Participants watched pre-recorded interviews with child avatars that were interviewed suggestively (vs. not) and that revealed details of CSA (vs. not). Both self-reported and facial expressions were assessed. In addition, participants answered questions about the quality of the interview and details recollection. The results indicated increases in sadness and disgust in reaction to CSA interviews and relief in reaction to no-CSA interviews. Surprisingly, the objectively more suggestive interviews were perceived as less suggestive and more appropriate. CSA scenario interviews were perceived as less suggestive than the no-CSA scenario. Angry and sad participants made fewer and relieved participants more mistakes when recalling details revealed by the child avatars during the interviews.

Introduction: In forensic settings interviewers are advised to ask as many open-ended questions as possible. However, even experts may have difficulty following this advice potentially negatively impacting an investigation. Here, we sought to investigate how emotions and psychophysiological parameters are associated with question formulation in real time in an ongoing (simulated) child sexual abuse (CSA) interview. Method: In a experimental study, psychology students (N = 60, Mage = 22.75) conducted two interviews with child avatars, while their emotions (anger, sadness, disgust, surprise and relief), GSR and heart rate (HR) were registered. Results: First, we found that general emotionality related to CSA and perceived realness of the avatars was associated with stronger overall emotional reactions. Second, we found that closed (vs. open) questions were preceded by more facially observable anger, but not disgust, sadness, surprise or relief. Third, closed (vs. open) questions were preceded by higher GSR resistance and lower heart rate. Discussion: Results suggest for the first time that emotions and psychophysiological states can drive confirmation bias in question formulation in real time in CSA.

Simulated avatar interview training has been proven to be effective in improving child sexual abuse interview quality. However, the topic of perceived realism of the avatars and whether they cause emotional reactions has not been previously investigated. Such reactions could affect both learning from the interview simulations as well as how actual interviews are conducted. We wanted to understand whether participants perceive allegedly sexually abused child avatars as realistic and how they emotionally respond to avatars revealing they were actually abused vs. not-abused. Psychology students and recent graduates (N = 30, M age= 27.9 years) watched eight avatars (four boys, four girls, four with a CSA and four with a no-CSA scenario) providing a series of details about what had happened. Before and after observing each avatar, the participants’ emotional reactions and perceived realness of the avatars were measured. Also, during each observation, the participant’s facial expressions were recorded. The participants self-reported more negative (anger, sadness, disgust) and more positive (relief) emotions to confirmed CSA and disconfirmed CSA scenarios, respectively, while results for facially expressed emotions were less clear. Higher general emotionality related to CSA and higher perceived realness of the avatars made the differences generally stronger.