Child Witnesses Productively Respond to “How” Questions About Evaluations but Struggle With Other “How” Questions

Child interviewers are often advised to avoid asking “How” questions, particularly with young children. However, children tend to answer “How” evaluative questions productively (e.g., “How did you feel?”). “How” evaluative questions are phrased as a “How” followed by an auxiliary verb (e.g., “did” o...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Child maltreatment 2023-08, Vol.28 (3), p.417-426
Main Authors: Henderson, Hayden, Sullivan, Colleen E., Wylie, Breanne E., Stolzenberg, Stacia N., Evans, Angela D., Lyon, Thomas D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Abused children
Adolescent
Age differences
Answers
Auxiliary verbs
Child
Child abuse & neglect
Child Abuse, Sexual - prevention & control
Child, Preschool
Children
Emotions
Humans
Male
Positioning
Questions
Sexual abuse
Verbs
Witnesses
Young Children
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Child interviewers are often advised to avoid asking “How” questions, particularly with young children. However, children tend to answer “How” evaluative questions productively (e.g., “How did you feel?”). “How” evaluative questions are phrased as a “How” followed by an auxiliary verb (e.g., “did” or “was”), but so are “How” questions requesting information about method or manner (e.g., “How did he touch you?”), and “How” method/manner questions might be more difficult for children to answer. We examined 458 5- to 17-year-old children questioned about sexual abuse, identified 2485 "How” questions with an auxiliary verb, and classified them as “How” evaluative (n = 886) or “How” method/manner (n = 1599). Across age, children gave more productive answers to “How” evaluative questions than “How” method/manner questions. Although even young children responded appropriately to “How” method/manner questions over 80% of the time, specific types of “How” method/manner questions were particularly difficult, including questions regarding clothing, body positioning, and the nature of touch. Children’s difficulties lie in specific combinations of “How” questions and topics, rather than “How” questions in general.
ISSN:1077-5595
1552-6119
DOI:10.1177/10775595231175913