Effective Interviewing of Children

A Comprehensive Guide for Counselors and Human Service Workers

Michael Zwiers, Patrick J. Morrissette

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9781138415256
• eBook ISBN: 9781135058418
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Mental Health in Psychology
• Index: Psychology

Interviews comprise the majority of professionals' interactions with children. In order to conduct effective interviews, professionals must possess effective communication skills, as well as knowledge of growth and developmental issues, data collection, and analysis.

Though this is an important area of study, there has yet to be a book that effectively addresses this topic. In most cases, students studying to become clinicians are forced to rely on the observations of practicing professionals to learn child-focused interview techniques.

Effective Interviewing ofChildren is unique in that it is the only comprehensive resource for information on child-focused interviews. The authors differentiate between child- and adult-focused interviews, present an integrated account of the literature on child-focused interviews, and offer techniques and suggestions for addressing developmental differences. Chapters address a wide range of topics including child and professional variables, effective use of language, children with special needs, ethics in interviewing, research interviews, and diagnostic clinical interviews.

Aimed at upper-level undergraduate and graduate students, this book is essential for clinically oriented programs such as mental health counseling, social work, psychology, and marriage and family therapy. The book is also of interest to practicing professionals who seek to expand their knowledge of child-focused interview techniques.

CHAPTER 1

CHILD VARIABLES

To conduct effective interviews, one must recognize developmental trends across the span of childhood and adolescence, as well as individual differences between children of similar ages. Children are so varied and unique that it hardly seems possible to identify the many ways in which they may differ from one another, as well as from adults. Professionals cannot know every difference, but they can begin to sensitize themselves to some important developmental differences. La Greca (1983) suggested that interviews are critical means of establishing rapport with, obtaining information from, and understanding the distinctive viewpoints of different children. Although some universal elements (e.g., respect, pacing) transcend the interview process regardless of the population, child-focused interviews require specific, unique knowledge and skills. In short, professionals must be prepared for the territory that they are about to explore.

The interview is a context wherein information about children can be obtained. Consequently, there is a need to be knowledgeable about developmental trends, socialization, self-awareness, memory, recall, deception, and suggestibility. Furthermore, knowledge regarding child witness issues (White, 1990) is important to those who investigate child sexual abuse. A working knowledge of developmental psychopathology (including internalizing and externalizing problems) and family dynamics is often useful.

This chapter reviews issues pertaining to the use of children’s self-reports in the process of interviewing. Such reports are important when documenting histories; exploring inner thoughts, perceptions, and conceptions; or when making decisions. Effective interviewing involves a mixture of informal and structured communication acts between children and professionals. When children are carefully oriented to the interview process to determine operational developmental levels and to monitor ongoing interactions, information may be collected and interpreted appropriately. If ample time is devoted to the process, results should include fruitful and valid data collection and reliable decision-making based on the interview findings.

WHY INTERVIEW CHILDREN?

Children bring a great deal to the interview situation and can be unique and important sources of data. Children’s ability to reflect, recall, and report on what they experience or observe however, may be questioned or undervalued. Consequently, rich and vital information remains uncovered because it is assumed that children are unable to articulate experiences or that child-generated information is faulty. As a result, professionals fail to pursue inquiry.

Children can be reliable reporters about their own personal experiences (Herjanic, Herjanic, Brown, & Wheatt, 1975; Hodges, 1993; Reynolds, 1993; Walco, Cassidy, & Schechter, 1994). Although Reynolds (1993) concluded that children are generally reliable reporters about themselves, he tempered this finding with the recognition that children will naturally present a range of skills in reporting their own behaviors, feelings, beliefs, and emotional states. Some children will be better equipped than others to respond to the questions of professionals.

Since children are constantly growing and developing, the influence of developmental concerns on their lives and daily functioning are important considerations. Such information can help in creating a physical and psychological environment that is conducive to children’s self-disclosure. Being knowledgeable about developmental differences among children can assist professionals in making informed decisions about how to interview them sensitively and responsively. Professionals interested in factors that contribute to problematic behavior need to be aware of source contributors to later problems, as well as of potential mediating and moderating variables. Such information is emerging in the literature in the area of developmental psychopathology.

NARRATIVES AND OBSERVATIONS

Gaining the perspective of children is often a challenge; therefore, substantial data must often be inferred from observations. With children who have developed verbal skills and are prepared to share information, personal narratives can provide reliable information. However, when conversing with children, the content and the manner of their speech—their communicative intentions and interactional patterns—need to be monitored. For many children, having adults ask their opinion and inquire about their thoughts may be a highly unusual social-cultural event for which they may not have a communication map to follow. If they do respond, they may do so half-heartedly because they do not expect to be listened to with sincere interest. Children may also find it unusual to be asked to reflect on what they think or what they have experienced. Barker (1990) contended that interviewing children poses a number of challenges including: (a) children have cognitive and linguistic abilities that differ from the professional’s, who may inadvertently talk either above or below a child’s level; (b) children often come to an interview not of their own volition but because they have been volunteered or coerced; (c) children are familiar with being questioned about misdeeds and not for other purposes, and this leads to suspicion or uncooperativeness; (d) many children arrive misinformed regarding the intentions or methods, or both, of the interview; (e) children may have misconceptions about the role of the professional conducting the interviewing; and (f) children may actually present with some form of communication disorder. In light of these factors, a flexible interviewing approach is needed wherein the unique needs of children are recognized and appreciated. Children generally respond poorly to rigid interview settings and methods. While it may be more convenient and comfortable to follow predetermined interview formats, the best interests of children must be maintained. Despite these potential barriers to communication, valuable information can be obtained from children.

THE ROLE OF DEVELOPMENT IN THE INTERVIEW PROCESS

Developmental psychology suggests that children change and grow over time, beginning from the moment of conception. This foundational belief has implications for professionals who strive to understand what is best, or at least appropriate, for children at particular ages. To be cognizant of children’s needs and abilities, it is essential to understand what is developmentally appropriate and what to expect. Although child development issues may be obvious to some professionals, many remain unaware of them. For example, unrealistic expectations may exist concerning a child’s ability to sit in a chair or remain on task for an extended period of time. Without relevant knowledge and experience, an interviewer may misinterpret a normal developmental need to get up and move around as hyperactivity. Or, conversely, overactive behavior may be perceived as normal. Such erroneous assumptions can have major implications for children and their families.

Children can be assessed over extended periods of time. In some cases, complete assessments can last as long as several days. Typically however, children are assessed over the course of an extended day. Sometimes children are seen for one to two hours before being moved along to the next specialist. Justification of this demanding interview schedule is based on the notion that a change is as good as a break. Unfortunately, such thinking completely ignores children’s developmental needs. Some suggest that school-age children are accustomed to attending school for a full day, and therefore, a day-long assessment is no different than a regular day of work at school. Once again, such thinking is both naive and problematic. Teachers know that the morning is the most productive time in the day, a time when young children are typically able to concentrate best. Afternoons are usually set aside for less demanding activities. In addition, a good deal of school time is lost to transitions between activities, so that children are really not expected to concentrate intensely for longer than 30 to 60 minutes at one time. If the goal is to collect valid data, then circumstances surrounding data collection should be conducive to helping children perform at optimum levels.

A thorough understanding of developmental pathways and trends can help in designing and implementing effective interactions with children. Moreover, the areas of cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development warrant careful consideration. In the final analysis, although developmental information can be helpful, an idiographic evaluation must be made of the extent to which that information applies to each child (Yuille, Hunter, Joffe, & Zaparnik, 1993). More specifically, while awareness of developmental norms may be helpful, children are not homogeneous; they differ in intelligence, language, memory, attention, social skills, and general emotional maturity (Morgan, 1995). Psychological phenomena have been found to vary with age (e.g., specific behavioral constituents of childhood depression), and attention should be rendered to developmental changes in comprehension and information processing as well as to social-cognitive perceptions of self and others (Flanery, 1990).

In addition to regular development, Yuille et al. (1993) have taken the position that professionals should be familiar with developmental psychopathology, or disordered behavior and functioning. Information is readily available in this growing field (e.g., Luthar, Burach, Cicchetti, & Weise, 1997; Rolf, Masten, Cicchetti, Nuechterlein, & Weintraub, 1990). Knowledge of developmental psychopathology should include an awareness of behavior within the total psychological context of children; their active role in developing skills; their modes and means of solving problems to achieve goals; their flexibility in applying differing solutions and patterns; and recurrent or interlinking patterns of stability and change. Without such information, a professional may overlook serious childhood problems or inadvertently reinforce them, or both. For example, a growing concern regarding sibling abuse requires professionals to be familiar with what is a normal or abnormal interactional pattern. The problem of sibling abuse is particularly prevalent in families where violent behavior between siblings is considered healthy behavior. In other words, such behavior is seen to prepare children, particularly males, for the real world. When children do report excessive force or even injury, their concerns may be perceived as whining behavior, and they may be sent back to settle their disputes. There have been circumstances where professionals have dismissed serious violent behavior toward siblings as normal sibling rivalry.

Although much of what is believed about children’s cognitive abilities and development has emerged from the pioneering work of Jean Piaget, his general findings have been challenged based on a lack of meaningful contexts for research questions and tasks, and on a methodological reliance on children’s ability to verbalize their understanding (e.g., Astington, 1993; Donaldson, 1978; Dunn & Kendrick, 1982; Hughes & Baker, 1990; Siegal, 1991). Certainly, Piaget’s broad-based stages of development no longer stand up to close scrutiny. In a similar vein, the work of Kohlberg (1969) has been questioned for its reliance on adult-biased moral concerns (Damon, 1977), as well as its gender bias toward males (Gilligan, 1982).

Another oft-quoted developmental theorist is Erickson (1963), whose developmental stages, while intuitively appealing, have never been empirically validated. Such shortcomings are not restricted to theorists like Piaget, Kohlberg, and Erickson; the developmental literature is rife with examples of ecologically and methodologically weak research. Results from recent investigations that utilize more appropriate methodology demonstrate that children are much more capable and competent in their reasoning and cognitive functioning than previously suspected (e.g., Harris, 1989; Perner, 1991; Stipek, Recchia, & McClintic, 1992; Wellman, 1990). These mixed findings suggest that task situations (e.g., experimental conditions) can lead to differing and misleading developmental pictures of children’s abilities.

In spite of the problems that exist with the developmental literature, there is a tendency to revert to outdated roots rather than to take the time to determine what relevant current literature exists. Even recently published textbooks continue to reference Piaget as more than a historical footnote. For example, Merrell (1994) raised some concerns about Piagetian stage theory, and then proceeded to describe in some detail those same stages (along with Erickson’s and Kohlberg’s), offering no contradictory modern research findings. Professionals need to be critical consumers of research that may misrepresent or at least underestimate children’s capabilities. For some, the idea of challenging a paradigm that they have enthusiastically embraced prompts a sense of insecurity and disloyalty. For others, the challenge of integrating the available literature across a range of developmental areas is overwhelming; yet it is necessary.

Based on the developmental literature, broad individual assessments of children can be made prior to interviews. To determine general functioning, Morgan (1995) suggested that assessments include the ability to tell dates and times, a sense of measurement, numerical skills, causal relationships, and empathic perspective-taking. A traditional mental status exam will provide a brief assessment of all significant areas of functioning (e.g., American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 1997; Goodman & Sours, 1994). During the initial assessment, children need to be monitored, since various skills are not transferable across tasks and settings. For example, children may recognize the current date and time on a calendar and clock yet be unable to recount the day and time when a particular event occurred. In addition, the anxiety that is usually engendered by a formal interview can influence interview data. When interviewing children due to academic problems, an initial inquiry about scholastic performance should be avoided. In these circumstances, it is known from the outset that children are experiencing difficulties in school. What remains unknown, however, are the factors that contribute to their difficulties.

Children are generally anxious about an impending interview and perceive it as analogous to having to report to the principal’s office (an experience they understand, if only vicariously). Depending upon their age, children may not fully understand the purpose of an interview. Those who have a better understanding still may worry about the implications of what they say or do not say. Helping children understand the purpose of an interview can be a challenging process. However, this process is critical if the goal is to alleviate anxiety and dispel misconceptions. To help young people to relax, the initial focus of an interview should be on strengths and interests. For example, the professional can state, “I don’t just want to know about your problems or difficulties; I also want to know about your strengths and abilities. I want to know what is difficult and what is easy for you. Please tell me about some of the things you like about school, and things that you are good at.”

THE ROLE OF SOCIALIZATION

Socialization is a complex process operating on many levels, ranging from parental to familial to cultural. The way that we are taught to behave influences personal experiences and interpretations of the world. It affects all areas of development beginning at birth. Infants have mainly an internal focus, but they turn to others to have their desires and needs met. Toddlers and young children begin to shift toward a more external focus. Stipek et al. (1992) found that after the age of 21 months, children become more socially-oriented. They visually reference parents and adults when attempting to complete tasks, thus indicating that they are seeking social recognition of success or failure. These authors described a gradual process of child socialization through three phases of self-reflection: (a) children younger than 22 months old do not engage in self-reflective evaluation nor social evaluations of performance; (b) by 2 years of age, most children are aware of approving and disapproving evaluations; and (c) by 3 years of age, children begin independently to compare their achievements to internalized standards. Based on this model, it becomes clear how children gradually internalize external standards and perhaps, accompanying beliefs and values of family, community, and society. Bruner (1990) contended that children learn to make sense of the world as they gain the ability to tell stories about it. Furthermore, he viewed narrative, a social action, as the mechanism whereby children learn to integrate what they and others think, feel, and can or cannot do.

Although growth is a gradual and continual process, Damon (1977) suggested that by ages 10 to 12, children achieve a remarkably advanced level of social understanding, including knowledge of authority, positive justice, friendship, and social regulation. As a result, professionals may be tempted to treat them as if they have adult experience and insight. Damon cautioned against adult-anthropomorphizing children’s lives. For example, one may be tempted to apply adult conceptions of friendship to two playmates, and judge one who shares a toy as kind or generous and another who shoves as hostile, when neither interpretation may be correct. A child may be sharing or pushing out of curiosity, imitation, or an attempt to socialize.

Professionals need to empathize with children in order to see the world through their young eyes. During an interview with two sisters, a pattern emerged wherein the younger sister would take a piece of the game away and run around the room. In response, her older sister would pursue her, retrieve the piece, then strike her sister who would cry and eventually withdraw. At first glance, one could assume that the younger sister was attempting to create a conflict with her sibling. As the pattern continued however, the older sister removed herself from the game and began to nurture her sibling. Consequently, the interactional pattern between the siblings became more evident.

SOCIAL-DEVELOPMENT FACTORS

Social-developmental factors can influence the interview process. As stated previously, children arrive at interviews without a working model for what an interview is. As a result, they draw on personal experiences to form a template for their interaction with professionals. Stipek et al. (1992) suggested that toddlers and young children have difficulty telling the difference between adult-prescribed behavioral norms and adult-prescribed achievement goals, meaning that these children may interpret a request to “answer these questions as best you can,” as an expectation or demand to respond to all questions in a prescribed way. Children may previously have experienced criticism when trying something new (an achievement goal). Consequently, they may be anxious and anticipate criticism from a professional, especially if they are unable to respond to a question or request. In some cases, parents may instruct their children to cooperate, listen, and behave. Each one of these instructions may have a detrimental effect on the subsequent professional-child interaction. In any of these situations, professionals will be met with unexpected responses that require skillful management, including reorienting the children to the interview context (e.g., situation, goals, and process).

Gender-based and age-related socialization can also affect child-focused interviews. For example, although 2-year-old boys and girls initiate conversations about feeling states equally as often, their mothers are twice as likely to initiate feeling state conversations with their daughters as with their sons, a likely contributor to later gender differences in emotional expression and willingness to discuss things of an emotional nature (Dunn, Bretherton, & Munn, 1987). Remaining cognizant of this can help professionals become sensitive to a young boy’s inability to express and articulate his feeling states. The assumption that young boys do not want to discuss their feelings may be erroneous. Rather, they may not have had the opportunity to practice speaking and receiving feedback about their feelings. This important information has major implications for how young men respond to personal issues and how they interact with others as they mature.

Age-related socialization also occurs. Until about 8 years of age, children gain their sense of accomplishment from parents and significant others, but by age 9 or 10, positive value judgments emerge from inte...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Halftitle
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Chapter 1: Child Variables
• Chapter 2: Professional Variables
• Chapter 3: The Practice of the Interview
• Chapter 4: Language of the Interview
• Chapter 5: Dealing with Unique Children and Circumstances
• Chapter 6: The Research Interview
• Chapter 7: Ethical Interviewing
• Chapter 8: Diagnostic Clinical Interviews
• Epilogue
• References
• Index
• About the Authors