Do Human Line Drawings Promote Children's Accurate Reporting of Touching?

描述(由申请人提供)：人体划线画(HLD)通常被专业人员用来采访疑似性侵儿童；然而，关于他们的能力的科学信息很少，这项建议的主要目标是在认知发展框架内确定在与被问及“触摸”的幼儿进行访谈时使用HLD的好处和风险。研究旨在检验以下假设：1.HLD增加了儿童提供的关于过去触摸事件的准确信息量，但不会增加错误数量。HLD在经过一次完整的口头面试后，产生的收益最大，风险最小。HLD的物理特性影响其可行性；减少空间定向问题的HLD是最有效的。四.HLD对理解和象征性表征的幼儿最有效；与没有为年龄最大的儿童绘制图画的传统访谈相比，这种访谈几乎不会带来什么好处或风险。将对3-8岁的儿童进行两组研究。第一组研究包括来自社区的儿童，他们参加了我们实验室的魔术表演；在魔术表演期间，儿童在许多地方被无害地触摸。第二组研究包括到特定医疗诊所就诊并接受生殖器和/或肛门检查的儿童。在魔术表演/体检两周后，儿童将接受采访，并被问到关于发生的事件和没有发生的事件的问题。孩子们将被随机分成不同的面试条件：先是口头面试，然后是HLD或HLD，然后是口头面试。在一些研究中，访谈中HLD部分的暗示程度会有所不同；在另一些研究中，HLD的物理特征也会有所不同。如果儿童提供了HLD的额外信息(不是在口头访谈中提供的)，并且没有提供不准确的信息，那么HLD将被认为是采访儿童的可行方法。这些研究的结果对于采访儿童受性虐待或总体身体状况的专业人士来说将是重要的。他们将为那些经常在被要求提供重要信息时不愿意提供重要信息的幼儿提供关于一种有前途的技术的风险和好处的科学信息。此外，还将就如何最有效地使用该文书提供指导方针。这两组研究的结果还将涉及与幼儿符号表征发展有关的理论问题；这一提议的独特贡献在于，重点是人体的符号表征，而不是空间中其他物理物体的符号表征。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Human line drawings (HLD's) are commonly used by professionals who interview children about suspected sexual abuse; however, there is little scientific information about their feabilitity, The major objective of this proposal is to determine within a cognitive developmental framework the benefits and risks of using HLDs in interviews with young children who are questioned about "touching". Studies are designed to test the following hypotheses: I. HLD's increase the amount of accurate information but not the number of errors that children provide about a past touching event. II. HLD's produce the greatest benefits and fewest risks when introduced after a complete verbal interview. III. The physical characteristics of HLD's influence their feasibility; HLD's that decrease spatial orientation problems are most effective. IV. HLD's are most effective with young children who undertand symbolic representation; there will be little incremental benefit or risk over traditional interviews with no drawings for the oldest children. Two sets of studies will be carried out with children between the ages of 3-8 years. The first set of studies includes children from the community who participate in a magic show in our laboratory; during the magic show children are innocuously touched in a number of places. The second set of studies includes children who attend specific medical clinics and receive genital and/or anal examinations. Two weeks after the magic show/medical examination children will be interviewed and asked questions about events that did occur as well as events that did not occur. Children will be randomized to different interviewing conditions: verbal interview followed by HLD's or HLD's followed by verbal interview. In some studies the suggestiveness of the HLD segment of the intervew will vary; in other studies, the physical characteristics of the HLD's will vary. If children provide additional information with HLD's (not provided in verbal interviews) and do not provide inaccurate information, then HLD's would be considered feasible for interviewing children. The results of these studies will be important for professionals who interview children about sexual abuse or about their bodies in general. They will provide scientific information about the risks and benefits of a promising technique for young children who often do not readily provide important information when asked for it. In addition, guidelines for the most effective uses of the instrument will be provided. The results of the two sets of studies will also address theoretical issues concerning the development of symbolic representation in young children; the unique contribution of this proposal is that the focus is on symbolic representation of the human body rather than on symbolic representation of other physical objects in space.