“And Then He Hit Me.” Disclosure Patterns in Forensic Interviews of Preschool-Aged Allegedly Abused Children

Abstract

Children’s disclosure of abuse constitutes a multifaceted process i.e. critical for professionals to address promptly, ensuring the immediate protection of the child. Little is known about the patterns of disclosure among preschool-aged children. The present study investigated disclosure patterns in 131 forensic interviews with preschool-aged allegedly abused children, all of whom reported abuse during the interview. Specifically, we examined the point in the interview at which children disclosed the abuse, the types of questions asked by the interviewer prior to the disclosure, whether the children provided new information about the abuse in response to subsequent questions after disclosure, and the interviewers’ follow-up prompts following the children’s disclosure. The findings showed an average of 88.9 turns before disclosure. One-third of the children disclosed abuse during the pre-substantive phase of the interview, with almost half of these disclosing early. Even children aged 3 provided forensically relevant information across multiple turns, comparable with the 5-year-olds. However, the preschool-aged children were interviewed using techniques that were leading and involved lengthy sessions, which did not align with best practices. This may raise questions about the validity and representativeness of the findings. Implications for practice are discussed.