CHILDRENS MEMORY OF EVENTS - EFFECTS OF STRESS, AGE, TIME-DELAY AND LOCATION OF INTERVIEW

To examine the ability of children aged between 4 acid 12 years to rec all a stressful event (venipuncture) compared with a non-stressful eve nt (demonstration of venipuncture), recall was tested after 6-8 weeks. Half also had recall tested after 2-7 days. Testing took place where the stressful event occurred (n=122) or at a neutral location (n=127). Children who experienced the stressful event were less likely to give inaccurate responses in free recall or to acquiesce to suggestive mis leading questions. Apart from incorrect responses in free recall, corr ect responses increased and incorrect responses decreased with increas ing age. Recall after 2-7 days was superior to recall after 6-8 weeks. Those who had an early and a late interview had better recall at the late interview than those who had a late interview only. The location of interview showed no effects on recall. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.