| This study examined 98 typed transcripts of child sexual abuse investigation interviews. The interviews were conducted at Children's Hospital by trained social workers. All children and all interviewers in the study were female. The transcripts were coded for interviewer rapport behaviors and child disclosure. Interviewer rapport behaviors included: use of emotion words, reflections, part nods, restatements, eye contact, and humor. Three factors of rapport behaviors emerged in a principal components analysis: Emotional Rapport (emotion words and reflections), Cognitive Rapport (part nods and restatements), and Visual Rapport (eye contact). Humor did not load on any factor and was not used in final analyses. Child disclosure was coded for: length of response, amount of question generated details, amount of spontaneous details, and amount of child anxiety. The focus of this study was to determine what interviewer rapport behaviors were associated with greater child disclosure. All rapport behaviors increased from the rapport phase to the abuse investigation phase of the interview. Greater rapport was associated with longer response from the child. Emotional Rapport positively predicted question generated details, while Cognitive Rapport negatively predicted question generated details. Visual Rapport was not significantly predictive. However, 91% of interviewers increased their Cognitive Rapport in the abuse investigation phase, compared to only 48% of interviewers for Emotional Rapport. Greater rapport was not predictive of greater spontaneous details or less child anxiety. These results are discussed in terms of relevance to forensic interviewing of child sexual abuse victims. |
