The Impact of the Consistency of Child Witness and Peer Reports on Credibility

Abstract

Adults’ perceptions of children’s disclosures have important implications for the response to that disclosure. Children who experience adult transgressions, such as maltreatment, often choose to disclose this experience to a peer. Thus, peer disclosure recipients may transmit this disclosure to an adult or provide support for the child’s own disclosure. Despite this, the influence of peer disclosure on a child witness’s credibility, as well as on the perceptions of peer disclosure recipients, is unknown. The present study examined how child witnesses’ and peer disclosure recipients’ credibility is impacted when the peer either confirms or contradicts the witness’s disclosure (or concealment) of an adult transgression. Participants listened to a child witness and peer being interviewed by an adult in one of four disclosure patterns (consistent disclose, consistent conceal, witness disclose/peer conceal, or witness conceal/peer disclose). Participants rated both the witness and the peer on dimensions of credibility (honesty and cognitive competence). Results revealed that both the witness and peer were more credible when their reports were consistent with one another. When inconsistent, the witness/peer who disclosed was considered more credible than the one who concealed. The findings indicate the potential importance of peers in the disclosure process as they may support the witness’s report and even be a credible discloser when the witness is reluctant to disclose.

Consistency amongst pairs: How consistent are child co‐witnesses with one another?

“…To those who are aware of the reconstructive nature of memory, the finding that co‐witnesses were quite inconsistent is unsurprising; however, we admit this finding is not intuitive. Laypeople, legal professionals, and police officers regard co‐witness inconsistency as a key indicator of credibility (or lack thereof; Brewer et al, 1999; Deeb et al, 2018; Pichler et al, 2021; Strömwall et al, 2003, see also, Dykstra et al, 2022). Ultimately the findings of this study highlight the importance of collaborating with legal and investigative professionals to facilitate the development of evaluative procedures that are driven by evidence, rather than intuition.…”

“…This event may be a transgression committed on the playground or school bus, or a more serious incident like a robbery, domestic violence, or sexual abuse (e.g., child pornography or institutional abuse; Hurcombe et al, 2019). When this occurs, the consistency of children's narratives with one another may be used as an indicator of their credibility (Brewer et al, 1999; Deeb et al, 2018; Strömwall et al, 2003, see also, Dykstra et al, 2022). However little is known about how consistent co‐witnesses are likely to be, and the factors that influence consistency between child witnesses.…”