The Effects of Rapport on Child Interviews

Richard Boles

Date of Graduation

Summer 2002

Degree

Master of Science in Psychology

Department

Psychology

Committee Chair

Matthew Fanetti

Abstract

The effects of rapport on child interviews were examined. While discussion of the importance of rapport for forensic interviews of children is ubiquitous, meaningful examinations of the actual effects of differing levels of rapport are non-existent. The present study investigated the effects of high, low, and neutral rapport on the quality and quantity of details provided by children in an event-recall scenario. Children in grades four through six (N=30) participated in this project. Results showed that rapport accounted for a significant amount of variance on both number of accurate details (14%, p<.05) and omission errors (15%, p<.05). A non-significant trend (r=.10, p>.05) between rapport and commission errors was also revealed. This study provides the first limited empirical support towards understanding the effect of rapport during child interviews. Applications of the present findings within various child interviews are offered while implications of current methodological limitations are discussed.

Subject Categories

Psychology

Copyright

© Richard Boles

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