Leiden University Student Repository

Jansen, Bo (2024)

Unieke kinderen, unieke verklaringen: Een onderzoek naar de invloed van individuele verschillen tussen kinderen op de kwaliteit van hun verklaring bij een verhoor

Master thesis | Education and Child Studies (MSc)

This study aimed to examine the quality of children's statements during police interviews and its association with various factors. These factors were: gender, age, fantasy proneness, extraversion, concentration and experienced stress. This was measured based on the length, elaboration, and accuracy of the children's statements. The study employed a cross-sectional design and collected data through transcripts of the police interviews and questionnaires filled in by parents. The sample consisted of 30 participants aged between 7 and 11 years. T-tests, Mann-Whitney-tests and Kruskal-Wallis-tests were conducted to analyze the data and examine the relationships between the independent variables and the quality of children's statements. The results indicated that gender had no significant impact on the quality of the statements. However, age was found to be significantly associated with the length of the statements, with older children providing longer statements. Fantasy proneness,...Show moreThis study aimed to examine the quality of children's statements during police interviews and its association with various factors. These factors were: gender, age, fantasy proneness, extraversion, concentration and experienced stress. This was measured based on the length, elaboration, and accuracy of the children's statements. The study employed a cross-sectional design and collected data through transcripts of the police interviews and questionnaires filled in by parents. The sample consisted of 30 participants aged between 7 and 11 years. T-tests, Mann-Whitney-tests and Kruskal-Wallis-tests were conducted to analyze the data and examine the relationships between the independent variables and the quality of children's statements. The results indicated that gender had no significant impact on the quality of the statements. However, age was found to be significantly associated with the length of the statements, with older children providing longer statements. Fantasy proneness, extraversion, concentration, and experienced stress did not show significant relationships with any of the statement quality measures. The findings suggest that age should be taken into account when assessing the length of children's statements, but other factors such as fantasy proneness, extraversion, concentration, and experienced stress may not be crucial in determining the quality of the statements. This implies that the interrogation protocol used in the Netherlands yields statements of comparable quality regardless of individual differences between children. Therefore, it is not necessary to modify these protocols based on individual differences between children.Show less

police interviews with children, quality of children’s statements, individual differences between children

Author

Jansen, Bo

Faculty

Faculty of Social & Behavioural Sciences

Specialisation

Forensische Gezinspedagogiek

Supervisors

Koornneef, A.W.

ECTS Credits

20

Language

nl