"I know it because it happened to me!" Confrontations of children within forensic investigations.

Confrontations and cross-examination are considered to be a vital stage in forensic investigations; however, laboratory and field studies have systematically shown their adverse effects on children`s testimonies. The current field study aimed to assess the strategies utilized, and the frequency with which they are used, in confrontations within forensic investigations involving children following suspected abuse, and to assess their effects on the children's testimonies. The forensic investigations were conducted using the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Protocol. The transcripts of 224 children aged 4-14, who were referred for forensic investigation following suspected physical or sexual abuse, were analyzed. All the cases included external evidence suggesting a high probability of abuse. The results indicated that confrontations of children were utilized in more than 60% of the forensic interviews, regardless of the child`s age. The vast majority of the interviewers' confrontation strategies involved references to the alleged suspects, with the number of confrontations ranging from 1 to 18 per interview. An examination of the children`s responses to the confrontations revealed that most of the children insisted on their initial reported testimonies; however, some of the children displayed confusion or fear, and one child recanted the allegation. The discussion addresses how confrontations and cross-examination, as a necessary stage of forensic investigation, can affect children`s testimonies, and the implications of these effects for the forensic context.

Emotional Language Used by Victims of Alleged Sexual Abuse During Forensic Investigation.

Addressing the characteristics of children as witnesses has been a focus of many researchers; however, the emotion derived from children during investigative interviews is an understudied field that is vital for practitioners from various contexts. The current study explores the emotional language that children use during forensic investigations following suspected sexual abuse. The sample comprises 97 investigative interviews with children (N = 97) aged 3-14 years. These interviews were randomly selected from all forensic interviews carried out in Israel in 2011. All of the interviews were conducted in conformity with the National Institute of Child Health and Development Protocol, and the emotional language of the children was coded. The results reveal a limited overall presence of emotional language. Children hardly used positive emotional language and mainly employed negative emotional language. The interview phase and the age of the children greatly affected the use of emotional language, and gender and suspect familiarity had no effect on the children's emotional language. The findings from the current study enhance existing knowledge on the emotional language of children during forensic investigations and highlight the study's unique characteristics in the context of abuse, trauma, and forensic investigation. The results of this study demonstrate the need for including probes about emotions in investigative interviews and the addition of emotional language to coding schemes for investigative interviews.

The effect of drawing on children's experiences of investigations following alleged child abuse.

The primary aim of the study was to evaluate investigative interviews from the perspectives of the children, comparing children who drew with children who did not. One hundred twenty-five children, alleged victims of sexual abuse, were asked about their investigative experience. The uniqueness of the study is that all of the interviews were conducted according to the NICHD Protocol and that children were randomly assigned into one of the two research conditions (drawing vs. non-drawing). The results clearly demonstrate the advantage that drawing has on the children's experience of the investigation, with children in the drawing group more often reporting feelings of hope and success. This study provides practical guidelines for practitioners by emphasizing the beneficial effects that drawing can have. The study stresses the importance of integrating into forensic investigations interventions that enhance children's testimonies and ensure that the investigation is an empowering experience that generates feelings of trust, self-worth, and justice.

The interrelationships between moral attitudes, posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms and mixed lateral preference in Israeli reserve combat troops.

BACKGROUND: Combat soldiers often encounter moral dilemmas during operational deployment, especially when an armed engagement is situated within a civilian setting. The study of moral dilemmas and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has mostly focused on the impact of war atrocities and moral injury. However, the relationship between moral attitudes and different combat-related pathologies has not been thoroughly addressed by quantitative studies. AIMS: We aimed to assess the relationship between combatant's moral attitudes, severity of PTSD symptoms and mixed lateral preference. METHODS: Data on moral objection, PTSD severity and lateral preference were collected in a right-handed non-pathologic sample (n = 147) of reserve combat troops in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). RESULTS: Nearly one-fifth (19.7%) of the reserve personnel who served in the occupied territories have reported high moral objection to the commands they were expected to act upon. This group of participants exhibited more PTSD symptoms and higher levels of mixed lateral preference. Multiple linear regression analyses revealed a mediating role of moral objection in the relationship between PTSD symptoms severity and lateral preference. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that moral objection has significant implications on combatant's psychological and organic well-being. The findings highlight the need to include moral attitudes in research and clinical practice among combat personnel and veterans.

The moderating effect of parenthood in the relationship between posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms and lateral preference in Israeli reserve combat troops.

The present study examined the relationship between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and lateral preference, as reflected by handedness, in Israeli reserve combat troops. Data were gathered from 147 right-handed reserve combat personnel who filled out the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory, a questionnaire examining the severity of PTSD symptoms according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, criteria and a questionnaire on the details of military service and familial status. The participants without children exhibited significantly more PTSD symptoms compared with the participants with children but did not differ in lateral preference levels. Multiple linear regression analysis revealed an altered pattern in the relationship between PTSD symptoms severity and lateral preference between the two groups. This alternation could suggest that being a parent might compel a reservist to inhibit the use of avoidance mechanisms for coping with intrusive memories, resulting in reduction of visible symptoms of PTSD while respectively contributing to their synchronization to lateral preference.